There was some concern with the East Carolina bullpen heading into baseball season, mainly because closer Joe Ingle and lead setup man Nick Durazo were limited in the preseason because of arm soreness.
Less than a week after opening day, however, the duo appears at full health, and the ECU bullpen is thriving heading into the Pirates’ series at No. 4 Virginia this weekend.
During opening weekend against Longwood, Ingle and Durazo pitched a combined 52⁄3 innings with one run allowed and eight strikeouts compared to one walk. Durazo pitched a scoreless ninth inning on Friday, Ingle got the final two outs on Saturday and Ingle — a freshman All-American a season ago — produced two clean innings on Sunday for his second save to complete a sweep for the Pirates.