Is ECU the best college for baseball in North Carolina? Why are they the best, or if not who is?

ahhh ... no

There are 17 D1 programs in NC ... ECU is a very good program, but not at the level of UNC (currently ranked #6). ECU plays in a strong Conference-USA, but most of the opponents in-conference are a long way off.

There are other programs in-state that are very good too (outside of the ACC and C-USA).

NC State also has a strong program. I believe that ECU is behind a couple other local programs right now (Winthrop & College of Charleston). They are both down in SC, but when you get to the Carolinas, most South Carolina locations are closer than many NC locations. UNC-Wilmington has a strong program in the CAA. I feel that Elon has a strong program. WCU is dangerous. UNC-G plays a tough schedule. Then, other programs in the ACC include Duke and Wake Forest.

It's a good state for baseball, and the teams are hard to compare since many don't play each other (scheduling difficulties).

On any given day, there are 6-8+ teams in state that can upset a Top-25 team.

UNC has the pitching and does have a solid team....ECU will be better this year than last because of their (much of it injured last year)pitching returning; and once the bats all start hitting on the same day the offence has the potential to be strong.

Heres my take on NC D-1 baseball this year. UNC has got outstanding pitching and thats an understatement. I saw Bard and Miller last weekend and they were outstanding. But Woodard pitched on Friday and he was 8-0 last year and first team AC and may be the best of the three. Then there is the bullpen that has guys that could be alot of peoples #1 and thats a fact. If they swing it like they did last weekend and against Coastal Carolina watch out people. UNC has a chance to be very very good.

NC State is very good as well. I would rate their offense a tad above UNC's but we will see. They have good pitching but not at UNC's level. They will be very good this year.

Elon in my opinion is the third best team in the state. Yes Elon! They dont have the depth on the hill that UNC and NC State have and I dont think they are quite as good offensively but they have a bunch of guys I call gritters. They are fundementally sound and they can beat anyone at anytime. I look for them to have an outstanding season and this program is on the rise big time.

ECU is on the rise as well. Alot of great arms are back after injuries plagued them last year. They should be very good at the plate when the weather warms up and guys have had a chance to swing it for a few abs. They have outstanding catching and if the arms are healthy they will be very good as well. I look for ECU to bring in some outstanding talent with Coach Godwin at the helm now. He knows NC baseball and has a great repore with the HS coaches especially in the Eastern part of the state.

I would rate UNC Wilmington next. And then there is a big drop off in my opinion. I think High Point is on the rise and we will see what happens at Duke with the new staff in the future. They will struggle this year. App State has recruited well but they are a couple of years away in my opinion. This is just my opinion let me know what you think.

Coach May:

Thanks for the kind words about Elon. A couple of teams from a bit further west that deserve mention are: Charlotte (off to a hot start -- could run away with the A-10) and WCU, who suffers from being a mountain school, but has had, historically, a very good program.

I really like the team down at UNC-W. I think they will take Old Dominion in the CAA, but Old Dominion has improved tremendously in the past couple years since their coaching change.

How's your son doing gas man?

quote:

Originally posted by FormerObserver:
How's your son doing gas man?

Having a blast ... but learning how to balance baseball in-season with the academic load. He's closing ... picked up his second save of the season today. Team is 9-4 on the season, so it looks to be a good year.

Learning how to close is a process too, particularly for guys who have been starters their entire careers. He's adjusting fine though.

Sorry for the intrusion folks but...great basketball game tonight with Duke & NC.

This may be an ignorant question but are the Duke-NC baseball games this good?

Sorry, but no. Duke is not on the same plane as most of the other ACC schools. They do have a new coach though, and the rumor mill says he will turn it around. There are some great baseball programs in the ACC. Fla. St., Ga. Tech, NC State, Miami, just to name a few.

It's not really close, Duke is THAT FAR behind.

When you talk about the top-10 to 15 college programs in the state, Duke doesn't make the list.

We'll have to see about the rumor mill.

Sean McNally will turn Duke around. In his sencond season hear he is already improving (although its hard to do any worse than Duke di under its old coach). I'm not saying Dukes gonna give GA Tech or Miami a run for its money, but they will start to emerge as an at least decent team. With a school that has their prestige they can draw the talent pool plus McNally is a recipe for success

Three problems with Duke becoming a factor in the ACC. The first, which could be remedied by sharing the basketball wealth, is facilities. The other schools have or are soon going to be upgrading and this can be a factor with recruits.
The next two, in light of the upcoming rule changes,will make it even tougher for the coaches to bring in high quality recruits. The 33% minimum scholarship that will be required will still leave 28-30 thousand for a players family to come up with per year. This leads to the third difficulty in building a program at Duke. To afford the school, recruits in most cases must have the grades to earn academic money to go along with athletic money. This limits the number of players that can be pursued. Also, once there, they have to be able to stay academically qualified or the program will lose scholarships.