CCU projected as No. 1 seed by two sources

Early projections have Coastal Carolina baseball as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Rivals.com and South Eastern Baseball (Sebaseball.com) each came out with projections this week in which CCU is a No. 1 seed for a second straight year.

South Eastern Baseball has the Chanticleers as a No. 1 at Greenville, N.C., where its projected field includes No. 2 seed East Carolina, No. 3 seed Ole Miss and No. 4 seed Notre Dame.

Rivals.com has the Chanticleers hosting a regional as a No. 1 though that appears to be dependent upon the availability of BB&T Coastal Field, which Pelicans general manager North Johnson said is unlikely.

However, Coastal Carolina athletics director Warren "Moose" Koegel said the school is looking into the possibility of adding temporary seats to Charles Watson Stadium in order to host a regional.

Coastal No. 10 in RPI

The Chants (34-8) made their debut at No. 10 in the official baseball RPI ratings that were released earlier this week.

The rest of top 10 is as follows: 1. Miami, Fla. (33-4), 2. Florida St. (34-5), 3. North Carolina (34-7), 4. Arizona St. (31-6), 5. South Carolina (29-11), 6. Oklahoma St. (27-11), 7. Rice (31-10), 8. Arizona (25-11) and No. 9 East Carolina (27-13).

Coastal (10-2 Big South) opens up an important series at 6 p.m. today at VMI (10-5), a matchup of the conference's top two teams.

Coastal's Bobby Gagg (5-1, 2.31 ERA) will match up with VMI's Trey Barham (2-4, 4.43) in the first game, with Saturday's probable matchup being CCU's Joey Haug (5-0, 1.68) vs. Michael Bowman (2-4, 3.84). Coastal has not announced a Sunday starter, but it could be freshman Cody Wheeler.

Bobcats, Wizards may look at Leasure

Coastal Carolina coach Cliff Ellis said the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Bobcats have expressed interest in working out former CCU guard Jack Leasure, the Big South's all-time leading 3-point shooter.

Leasure's former coach and Bobcats front office executive Buzz Peterson said Charlotte has not "made a full commitment" to Leasure but will make a decision in the next month. NBA teams can begin to work out prospects on June 3.

Leasure is not expected to be selected in the NBA draft on June 26. However, Ellis said if Leasure can't make an NBA roster a pro career likely awaits overseas.

As for the new Chants, Ellis likes his 2009 class, which was completed with the signing of guard Darius Steger.

Though Ellis concedes it will take four years to judge the class, he believes it will help Coastal in every area of the roster sans the post position. And with a healthy Joseph Harris and Anthony Breeze returning, and the 6-foot-10 Jon Pack adding strength during his redshirt year, the post position appears to be one of the deeper areas for CCU.

Ellis also noted that the five signees all have come from winning programs, which he regards as a major plus.

CCU cheerleaders finish fifth in national competition

The Coastal Carolina cheerleading team finished fifth at the NCA National Cheerleading competition in Daytona Beach, Fla., on April 11. The event will be televised at 7 p.m. Saturday on Fox Sports Net.

ONLINE | To view Sawchik's blog 'Inside CCU Sports,' go to MyrtleBeachOnline.com.

Contact TRAVIS SAWCHIK at 843-626-0286 or at tsawchik@thesunnews.com.