Column: ECU way prevails again

I admit it. I'm a pessimist.

When ECU was trailing South Carolina 6-0 Monday night after four innings of play in the Greenville Regional Championship, I thought it was over.

After the Pirates fought back to cut the lead to 7-6, the Gamecocks right fielder Jackie Bradley, Jr. blasted a homer of the right field wall in the top of the eighth inning that put S.C. back up by three.

About this time, I was sending out text messages saying things like, "Game over" and "We gave it a good run," as well as turning to my friends and fellow Pirates next to me and whispering the same things under my breath.

That all too familiar sickening stomach feeling that always creeps in when you know your favorite team is about to go down crept it, and the nail, in my opinion, was already in the coffin.

This, after all, was the first time that the Pirates had actually hosted a NCAA Regional on campus and even with the rich tradition that is ECU baseball, who knows when the next chance to host would come?

Most of all I felt bad for the seniors who had put in four years of hard work to not only reach the longtime goal of ECU baseball to host a Regional but also reach the College World Series. And now suddenly it was about to end. The phrase, "So close, yet so far" popped in my mind and all I could do was cross my arms and lay them upon the outfield wall in left field and stare at my feet.

I've been covering ECU athletics for three years now, and for the first time since I can remember, I was actually openly cheering at a sporting event. I was pulling hard and it seemed to be to no avail.

Trailing by a three-run deficit heading into the bottom of the ninth, my good friend Dennis Fryer told me, "I'm confident man. We are going to win this. This is the ECU way."

Maybe it was the confidence in Fryer's voice or the absurd knockoff purple Converses with the ECU logo he had bought earlier for good luck, but I actually felt like we could win.

Luckily, the Diamond Bucs refused to give up like I had many innings prior, and with a three-run homer by Devin Harris, the Pirates sent the game to extra innings.

The Jungle, as well as the stands of Clark-LeClair stadium, was going nuts. I then remembered what Fryer had said of the ECU way and I could do nothing but laugh.

How many times have Pirate fans, critics or even myself counted various ECU athletic teams out only to watch them pull it out in the end? I've seen it numerous times in my three years as a student and the history of this fine university is littered with these instances.

With that said, the contest wasn't over, but when South Carolina was shutout in the top half of the 10th inning, I knew that the Pirates were going to win. Thanks to a double by Kyle Roller and a hit up the middle by the heroic Harris, the comeback was complete and at least one vision of the former ECU coach Keith LeClair was fulfilled.

Call it cheesy, but at the end of the game, everything just felt right. It never felt as if the Pirates had trailed by six runs at one point but rather a game they were supposed to win.

What transpired Monday night at Clark-LeClair stadium, at least for the moment (or the rest of the Diamond Bucs run), has made me see the glass as half-full instead of half empty.

And I've learned that the ECU way is not the easiest or the most effective way.

It's the only way.