Why Coastal Carolina baseball warrants its lofty preseason national rankings
Coastal Carolina is ranked in the top 25 by numerous national publications and websites that cover college baseball.
Baseball America, D1Baseball, Perfect Game and the USA Today Baseball Coaches Poll all have the Chanticleers ranked, and Coastal peaks in Collegiate Baseball’s rankings at No. 12.
So why are they all so high on the Chants?
Simply put, Coastal is loaded with talent in 2019.
Coastal returns 21 players from last season’s team that went 43-19, won the Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament titles, and hosted an NCAA regional.
Adding to the returning talent is a 15-player recruiting class that includes three junior college transfers and is ranked in the top 25 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America and D1Baseball, which ranks the incoming class 14th.
“This is an extremely talented team,” said 24-year Coastal head coach Gary Gilmore during the team’s first official practice of the spring season Friday. “We have great ability, there’s no doubt. If we don’t win it’s not because we’re not talented enough. We’ve got to figure out where to put all the pieces.”
The returnees include three 2019 Collegiate Baseball 2019 Preseason All-Americans in junior second baseman Cory Wood (second team), senior first baseman/designated hitter Zach Biermann (third team), and senior pitcher Matt Eardensohn (third team), and consensus 2018 Freshman All-American centerfielder Parker Chavers.
The 2016 NCAA champions also return experienced upperclass position players Kieton Rivers, Keaton Weisz, Kyle Skeels and Turner Buis.
The team will be fast, should hit for a good average and have a deep and talented pitching staff. Perhaps the biggest question marks will be power hitting and the top of the pitching rotation.
Biermann was the Sun Belt Conference Tournament MVP and hit .302 with 13 home runs, 14 doubles and both 57 RBI and runs scored last season and is expected to hit with more power this season.
It will be needed with the loss in the middle of the order of drafted players Seth Lancaster and Kevin Woodall Jr., who were first and second in the Sun Belt with 20 and 19 homers.
Skeels, a junior catcher, hit .301 with five homers and seven doubles among his 28 hits in 2018, and missed much of the season because of an injured hamate bone in his hand. He is expected to hit behind Biermann in the fourth or fifth spot in the batting order.
“We don’t have two individuals that are going to walk out there and pick up those guys’ numbers, so we’re going to have to disperse it over an entire lineup and Kyle needs to be one of the guys that’s a huge part of that,” Gilmore said.
Wood hit .296 with 19 doubles, 61 runs scored and 17 stolen bases, Chavers hit .323 with seven homers, 15 doubles, 42 RBI and 48 runs scored, and Rivers batted .285 with five homers, three triples, 15 doubles and 50 RBI.
Newcomers include freshman Nick Lucky. The left-handed hitter was selected in the 14th round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Boston Red Sox after batting .667 as a senior at Cocalico High in Denver, Pa., but chose to attend Coastal.
“Nick Lucky is going to be a great player here,” Gilmore said. “He’s got to win a job at this place. He has incredible skills and tools and I look for him to have a fantastic career here. Where and how and what he gives us right out of the gate, that’s up to Nick Lucky.”
The bullpen will be loaded with Eardensohn, who was 7-0 with six saves, a 2.18 ERA and a .188 opponent batting average, Jay Causey of Conway, who sported a 2.28 ERA and .205 opponent batting average, and the return from injury of senior righty Bobby Homes and junior lefty Austin Kitchen, who both have pro-potential arms.
“They’re great leaders on this team,” Wood said of Holmes and Kitchen. “They were here when they went to Omaha. They know what it’s like to compete on the mound and I think they’ve really helped out our younger pitchers, even guys that got innings last year who didn’t necessarily have that senior leader. It’s going to be great to watch them succeed this year.”
Coastal lost a pair of starting pitchers in Jason Bilous and Zack Hopeck, who combined to go 13-7 with ERAs around 4.00, but return starter Anthony Veneziano (7-1, 3.81 ERA) and Zach McCambley (3-0, 3.14 ERA), and have loaded up on arms with incoming players.
“McCambley is probably ahead of every single other guy on our team right now pitching-wise and I hope he continues to stay that,” Gilmore said. “He’s a guy that has a chance to definitely be one of the better Friday night guys not only in our league but in the country. I think he has the ability if he were to be able to continue to improve, another 12 months from now he has first-round ability in the draft.
“I’m looking for him to hopefully be that guy that really steps up to give us that lockdown six or seven innings as a Friday night guy where we can compete anywhere in the country with him on the mound.”
Freshman Garrett McDaniels, a highly-regarded left-handed pitcher from Pee Dee Academy in Mullins, was drafted in the 30th round of 2018 MLB Draft by the Miami Marlins, and right-hander Jacob Maton was drafted in the 39th round by the Seattle Mariners out of Chatham (Ill.) Glenwood High.
“There are some young guys who are going to contribute, there are several returners, several that didn’t pitch a ton last year that I feel have improved quite a bit,” Gilmore said.
Coastal begins the season by hosting Maryland, VCU and Campbell in the Brittain Resorts Invitational from Feb. 15-17 at Springs Brooks Stadium. It’s the first of three home tournaments before the start of Sun Belt play.
“We’ll find out our weaknesses once the season starts but at this point I can’t really say we have many,” Wood said.
The Chants lost last season in the NCAA regional they hosted, and they hope to get back into the same situation with a better outcome.
“It left a lot of us a little bitter,” Wood said. “We had a really good team. I didn’t want to stop playing with all those guys, but it definitely pushes us – especially the guys that have come back – to make us want to do that again. We want to get past that stage. We want to do what they did in 2016 because I definitely think we can. We have the talent to do so.”
Season tickets start at $250 and tickets are available through the CCU ticket office at 843-347-8499.