When Seth Simmons walks to the pitching mound, there's no room for even the slightest mistake.
He is East Carolina's closer, and he's in the game for one reason -- to mow down opposing batters in an inning or two, hold the lead and finish the game.
"The first thing that goes through my mind is I can't be hit," said Simmons, a sophomore right-hander from Lewisville.
"Outside the mound, I know that I don't have the best stuff in the world. But when I step on the mound, I know that there's nobody better than myself.
"Everybody's up there swinging away. They're trying to tie the ballgame up. My mentality is to throw strikes and know that nobody else can beat you."
ECU might need Simmons this weekend, when it plays North Carolina in the Chapel Hill Super Regional at Boshamer Stadium. The best-of-three series will start at noon Saturday, and the winner will advance to the College World Series.
Getting to Omaha, Neb., and the World Series is one reason that Simmons decided to play for the Pirates.
"We're on Cloud 9 right now, as any team should be," Simmons said. "We're one of the last 16 teams left in all of the country. That's a great accomplishment.
"I told one of my friends the other day I'd rather not pitch as long as we can get to Omaha."
Closing out wins is a job that Simmons has done very well this season. Although he's just 5-9 and 150 pounds, not many teams have gotten to his pitching. ECU relievers have 13 saves this season. Simmons has nine of them, a total that ties him for third in Conference USA. He's also third on the team with a 3.32 earned-run average and has a 3-1 record.
He has made 32 appearances and has 49 strikeouts in 38 innings. More important, opponents are batting only .227 against him, the lowest average among ECU's top 11 pitchers.
Simmons knows, however, that he might need all of his pitching guile against a UNC lineup that includes Dustin Ackley, Kyle Seager and Garrett Gore.
"I've got to give most of the credit to my teammates," Simmons said. "I don't pitch unless we're up. It was a great season. I worked hard all offseason, and I battled a couple of injuries throughout the year, but you've got to give credit to the guys with the bats in their hands."
Simmons once thought he would be a regular at Boshamer Stadium, not an infrequent visitor. He grew up a UNC fan and had hopes of playing there.
"I was -- and that's a big was -- a Carolina fan," Simmons said with a laugh. "I'm not any more. My dad hated me for it because he's a big Duke fan. Me and my brothers grew up Carolina fans. Everybody wants to go there. They're a great program with a great tradition."
Simmons looked around and found promising opportunities available elsewhere. He said he committed to N.C. State at one point during his senior year at Calvary Baptist but kept an open mind.
Once he visited Greenville, talked to Billy Godwin, who had recently become ECU's coach, and saw the baseball facilities, his destination was set.
"I looked at what was best for me," Simmons said. "It was the best spot for me to play and the best spot for me to win. I couldn't ask for anything more. I love this group of guys that I'm with.
"I love ECU. My heart's at ECU now. It'd be great to win in front of those fans because that's what I grew up watching and hearing about all the time. It'd be icing on the cake to go there and win the regional."
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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