EAST CAROLINA-COACH FIRED
ECU fires baseball coach after 9 seasons
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) β Billy Godwin is out after nine seasons as East Carolina’s baseball coach.
Athletic director Jeff Compher said Monday that Godwin’s contract will not be renewed.
Godwin was 317-215-1 with five NCAA tournament appearances at the school.
The Pirates were 33-26 this season, finished in a three-way tie for sixth place in the 13-team Conference USA and were not selected for the NCAA tournament. They will begin play in the American Athletic Conference next season.
The three-year extension he received after a super regional appearance in 2009 expires June 30.
Compher says the decision came “after a thorough and thoughtful evaluation.”
He says he will conduct a national search for Godwin’s replacement and appointed associate head coach Dan Roszel to run the program on an interim basis.
PINEHURST-NO 9 COURSE
Pinehurst adds 9th golf course to lineup
PINEHURST, N.C. (AP) β Pinehurst Resort is adding a ninth golf course to its lineup.
Officials at the resort said Monday that they have purchased the National Golf Club in Pinehurst, including its Jack Nicklaus-designed course. That course will be renamed Pinehurst No. 9.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
National Golf Club President Claudia Robinette calls Pinehurst “one of the strongest brands in the industry.”
Pinehurst will stage its third U.S. Open next week on the Donald Ross-designed No. 2 course. That will be followed a week later by its first U.S. Women’s Open β the first doubleheader of opens in the sport’s history.
Pinehurst executive Jay Biggs says the No. 9 course “presents a challenging test in a beautiful setting that complements our eight other courses.”
NCAA COLL OF CHARLESTON-LONG BEACH ST
Charleston beats Long Beach St to advance
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) β Morgan Phillips’ sacrifice fly drove in Ryan Welke with the tiebreaking run in the fourth inning and College of Charleston beat Long Beach State 4-2 Monday to win the Gainesville Regional.
The Cougars (44-17) advanced to the Super Regionals and will next face Texas Tech.
Welke walked to open the fourth, and moved to second when Ben Boykin was hit by a pitch from Nick Sabo. The runners advanced on Sabo’s wild pitch and Nick Rosetta relieved and gave up Phillips’ fly ball.
Boykin then scored on Rosetta’s wild pitch to make it 4-2.
Long Beach State (34-26), which beat North Carolina 12-5 in a condensed game earlier in the day, took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Richard Prigatano’s RBI double and Johnny Bekakis’ run-scoring infield single.
Charleston tied it in the third when Blake Butler scored on a throwing error by Michael Hill.
NCAA SUPER REGIONALS
NCAA super regionals will feature surprise teams
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) β College of Charleston, Kennesaw State and Pepperdine are heading to super regionals in the NCAA baseball tournament after surprising opening-weekend victories.
The College of Charleston Cougars became the fourth No. 4 regional seed to reach super regionals since the tournament went to its current format in 1999. Pepperdine and Kennesaw State were seeded third in their regions.
Of the national seeds, No. 3 Virginia, No. 6 Louisiana-Lafayette and No. 7 TCU won regionals. No. 1 Oregon State, No. 4 Indiana and No. 8 LSU played late Monday.
Super-regional matchups: College of Charleston vs. Texas Tech; Kennesaw State vs. Louisville; Pepperdine vs. TCU; Ole Miss vs. Louisiana-Lafayette; Maryland vs. Virginia; Texas vs. LSU or Houston; Oklahoma State vs. Oregon State or UC Irvine; and Texas vs. LSU or Houston.
