GREENVILLE — The East Carolina baseball team heads into the ninth annual Keith LeClair Classic with momentum as it swept its season-opening series with Milwaukee and then topped Old Dominion 10-4 on Wednesday to bring a perfect 4-0 record into the tournament.
Participating in this year’s Classic will be Purdue (3-0, SEC), who the Pirates will face today at 5 p.m., along with Maryland (2-1, ACC) and Western Carolina (4-0, SoCon).
The tournament is named after former ECU baseball coach Keith LeClair who coached the Pirates from 1998-2002, and in that time won 68 percent of his games to finish No. 2 on ECU’s all-time wins list with a record of 212-96-1. LeClair died in 2006 when he lost his battle with ALS.
“It means a lot to us, and for our players it’s a chance to play three great opponents,” said ECU coach Billy Godwin. “I try to make sure they understand the importance of what this represents and what Coach LeClair meant to this program, university and community.”
Senior catcher Zach Wright will be playing in his final Classic and said he will cherish his last go-round.
“Coach LeCLair’s legacy is a big one around here, not just for baseball but for the entire community,” Wright said. “We got a lot of good teams coming in and I just can’t wait to get after it.”
Senior pitcher Kevin Brandt (1-0, 0.00) will be on the bump for the Pirates opener against Purdue and said that playing well during the tournament means a lot to him and his teammates.
“The Keith LeClair Classic, the name is just a legacy around here and to get wins in that tournament is just something special … It’s just hard to put into words,” Brand said.
The Classic will begin today at 1 p.m. when Maryland takes on Western Carolina and will be followed by the ECU-Purdue matchup. On Saturday, Purdue clashes with Maryland at 11 a.m., while Western Carolina will take on the Pirates at 3 p.m.
On Sunday, Western Carolina and Purdue will go at it at 10 a.m. and the Pirates will close out the tourney against Maryland.
ECU has won the Classic five times in eight years with the last time being coming 2010.