Questions abound as Coastal Carolina opens baseball season

CONWAY -- Coastal Carolina baseball coach Gary Gilmore has projected an anxious facade leading up to the start of this season, repeatedly saying – warning – that he doesn’t know what to expect from the Chanticleers these first few weeks ... or months.

As excited as he is about the team’s offensive potential, he’s worried about the dependability of the defense. As intrigued as he is by the talent of some of the squad’s young arms, he’s uneasy about relying on so many unproven pitchers.

And while he thinks he has all the roles sorted out, well, he just can’t be sure at this point as Coastal opens play Friday at home against James Madison.

“Until they get out there and play, I don’t know if all the pieces that we’ve manipulated here and there, if they all work,” he said, sitting in his office Wednesday before one of the team’s final preseason practices. “We may be better in some ways than we think; we may be worse. I honestly don’t know. There’s so much unknown on this team.”

No, this sure is not the veteran-laden, experience-rich Chants of the last few years. Gilmore said as many as 20 or more newcomers to the program could play a “significant” role this spring.

But that doesn’t mean the expectations have changed. Not at all.

After 10 NCAA tournament appearances in the last 11 seasons and five straight league championships, Coastal is again the overwhelming favorite to win the Big South Conference and a team intent on making another postseason push.

“I have a lot of confidence in our team,” said Rich Witten, one of the Chants’ few returning starters. “I know it’s coach’s job to worry sometimes and never seem too overconfident, but I think we’re in a really good position right now and hopefully we’ll get a hot start and keep that momentum going throughout the year.”

The Chants will unveil their retooled roster with only two elements of the starting lineup familiar from last year.

Senior catcher Tucker Frawley and senior right fielder Daniel Bowman are back in their same spots, while Witten moves from first base to third base and sophomore Jacob May slides over to center field after a rough freshman season in which he saw most of his playing time in left.

The rest is all new.

Junior first baseman Sloan Gilliam (a transfer from Spartanburg Methodist College), junior left fielder Ted Blackman (a transfer from St. Petersburg College in Florida after also playing a season at Miami) and junior designated hitter Bryce Dial (an addition from Chattahoochee Valley Community College in Alabama) are expected to add some significant pop to the Chants’ lineup along with Witten (.300 average, six home runs and 51 RBIs in 2011) and Bowman (.277-12-59).

Meanwhile, junior Justin Creel (a newcomer from Northeast Texas CC) will replace team leader Tommy La Stella at second base, and freshman Brian Pruett will man shortstop to open the season.

“You can practice all you want to, but every year there’s going to be somebody we’re counting on that’s not as good as we hoped they were going to be, and there’s going to be someone that we were really kind of indifferent about, not sure, that’s going to rise up and be really, really good,” Gilmore said. “I just don’t know who those guys are going to be at this point.”

There are even more questions, though, on the pitching staff, as only junior right-hander Josh Conway – the 2012 Big South preseason pitcher of the year – made more than two starts for the Chants last year.

Conway, who went 8-2 with a 2.69 earned-run average in 2011, will open the season starting Saturdays, while sophomore righty Tyler Herb takes the mound Friday for the opener and freshman lefty Ben Smith gets the nod Sunday.

Juniors Ryan Connolly (injured to start the season) and Aaron Burke are the only returning veterans in the bullpen.

“It’s going to be a work in progress,” Gilmore said.

And that process starts Friday afternoon at Watson Stadium.

Said Frawley: “I’m ready to get this show on the road and see what this team can do.”