From day one of the 2004 college baseball season, the ECU Pirates have worn their game face day in and day out. There is one Pirate, however, that might just have the most intimidating game face of all, Greg Bunn.
Bunn has been a stud this year, going 10-0 and helping the Pirates advance to the Super Regional this weekend against South Carolina by hurling eight masterful innings and giving up just two hits in the Regional Championship against UNC-W.
"I only got about two hours of sleep last night, waiting for this game,'' said Bunn, who was selected by the Montreal Expos in the fifth round of Monday's baseball draft. ''But I came out, I thought I would be tight, but it just felt right."
Bunn's outstanding pitching performances in his freshman season, which earned him a spot on the 2002 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America team, helped to jumpstart an outstanding career thus far for the junior, which has seen its ups and downs off the field.
In the same year Keith Leclair was stricken was Lou Gehrig's, Bunn and his family faced a bit of a challenge as well. Bunn's father suffered a heart attack, which removed him from his work place and left the financial load on his mother.
Bunn took it upon himself to make sure that his family would be okay after such a terrible incident.
Enter Bunbun's. A New York style hot dog stand. Founder and CEO: Greg Bunn.
"My mom was running low on money due to all the medical bills from my dad's heart attack," Bunn said. "He is doing good now but she needed help paying for a lot of it so that is why I established Bunbun's."
Bunn's efforts at the hot dog stand helps not only his mother, but helps the very man that placed a baseball in his hands at the age of two: his father.
Bunn lifted his first baseball trophy in 1988, the first of many in his, thus-far, outstanding career.
Bunn also got his feet wet in another area of the athletic realm when he tried his luck at running.
"I went out for the indoor track team one time but I quit that after about two weeks," Bunn said, with a laugh.
"Baseball was always my dream going up as far as I can remember back. I always wanted to be a baseball player."
In high school, Bunn could play almost every position on the field but he shined brightest on the mound. In his senior season at Wake Forest-Rolesville High School, Bunn was named to the all-state team due largely in part to his five complete game shutouts in that season. He also was tagged as team MVP the same year as well.
Along with his great pitching in high school, Bunn also put up impressive offensive numbers, batting over .300 for his three year career on the varsity and launching 17 home runs.
This year is Bunn's third season with the Pirates, a season he says is different from the first two.
"This year the team has good chemistry. Everybody gets along with everybody and we all pick each other up."
The Pirate unit works together defensively as well as offensively.
"The hitters obviously pick us up when we (pitchers) don't do good and we pick them up when they are struggling. This year we did a lot more running and worked hard on agility and just basically got after it more."
Getting after it more is a motto Bunn uses everyday as well as his Pirate teammates, and it is paying its dividends. The Pirates already have a conference title and Regional championship title under their belt. The kind of numbers the Pirates have put up have ECU in great shape to make their first trip to Omaha, Nebraska and play in the College World Series.
"A trip to Omaha would mean a heck of a lot to this program," Bunn said. "We are getting a new stadium which will help bring recruits in and if we go to Omaha they are going to want to come here as well."
Omaha would mean a heck of a lot to Greg Bunn after his efforts to get the Pirates to the promise land. Bunn's opponents are batting a measly .187 against him this season which may explain why his record on the year is an unblemished mark of 10-0. Bunn's earned run average is among the best on the team, 2.66, and his 109 strikeouts leads the team.
All of this and one may think that Bunn may not have time for academics.
"I am doubling majoring in Math and Physics," Bunn said. "School is hard but I am making decent grades."
Greg Bunn is a student, a hot dog stand owner, a baseball player, but most importantly, an inspiration to all young baseball fans that may be faced with adversity in their lives. Bunn made the best of his situation, following the lead of one of his mentor's in Keith Leclair.
The number three nationally ranked Pirates are just two games away from Omaha as they head down to Columbia, South Carolina for the Saturday, Sunday, Monday series.
This writer can be contacted at sports@theeastcarolinian.com