How CCU baseball is melding old and new in 2022, and why coach Gilmore missed the opener
Coastal Carolina began the 2022 baseball season Friday with 18 players who are new to the program and a win, but without longtime head coach Gary Gilmore.
The Chants got contributions from both new and returning players in a 13-8 win over Kent State in the Baseball at the Beach tournament at Springs Brooks Stadium.
Gilmore was not at Friday’s game but is expected to return to the bench this weekend.
Gilmore, who has been receiving treatments for pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer for the past two years, said this week that he had a medical procedure at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston on Tuesday to move an artery around a small tumor, which had been pressing against it. He said his treatments have been otherwise going well.
“Before the game we spoke with him and he was planning on heading to the airport this evening to be back tomorrow, and we’re looking forward to having him back,” said CCU assistant and acting head coach Kevin Schnall.
The Chants roster features 12 transfers and six true freshmen, as well as three additional players who have been in the program but haven’t played in a game prior to this season, including pitcher Will Smith of Conway.
Transfers from Division I schools include catcher/outfielder Kameron Guangorena (Cal State Fullerton); utility player Jake Gitter (Northern Colorado); infielder Matt McDermott (William & Mary); first baseman/catcher Christopher Rowan Jr. (Utah); and outfielder Austin White (Rhode Island).
Freshmen who are expected to contribute this season include infielders Ernesto Polanco and Orlando Pena, outfielder Andrew Muraco and catcher Derek Bender.
“We think it’s one of the deeper teams we’ve ever had,” Schnall said. “We talked to them all week about not consuming themselves with the circumstance of maybe not starting opening day and really focusing on the process and just getting better every day. Because we can go back to 2016, our national championship team, the opening day lineup on that team and the lineup in our opening game at regionals, there were three players that weren’t even in the lineup.”
Coastal returns eight position players, including five who played in 40 or more games last season, and the top four hitters by average in Eric Brown (.294), Billy Underwood (.280), Nick Lucky (.279) and Dale Thomas (.277).
Brown, a junior shortstop, was chosen the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Preseason Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches after starting 50 games in 2021 and recording 55 hits, 42 runs scored, 12 doubles, nine home runs, 38 RBI and 11 stolen bases, as well as a .959 fielding percentage.
Coastal begins the season with an experienced starting rotation with senior Nick Parker, redshirt senior Reid VanScoter, senior Michael Knorrr and super senior Elliot Carney. Knorr is a transfer from Cal State Fullerton and Carney comes from Wofford.
Other pitchers joining the team via transfer include John Kelly (Oklahoma State) and Colin Yablonski (La Salle).
“There are things that are going to change,” Schnall said. “It’s inevitable, and it’s just our job as coaches to find what that exact mix is. You’re going to see some new guys in the lineup tomorrow, you’re going to see some new pitchers get some opportunities tomorrow. It’s going to take a couple weeks because there is some quality depth.”
Turnover isn’t relegated to the players. Drew Thomas isn’t overseeing the pitching staff for the first time since 2007, and has been replaced by former six-year Bethune-Cookman head coach Jason Beverlin.
Coastal was 27-24 last season and 9-12 in the Sun Belt to register its fewest conference wins in a season since 1997. With its many newcomers, CCU tied for third in the preseason Sun Belt coaches poll with Louisiana, behind both South Alabama and Georgia Southern, though the Chants garnered three first-place votes.
“I believe we’re a very deep team,” said Rhode Island transfer White, who had three hits Friday from the leadoff spot. “This is probably the deepest team I’ve ever played on at the college level, and I think that’s a great problem to have, knowing you could have a new nine in there the next day and know they’re going to show up and give it their all. . . . It’s exciting to see you’re almost playing for a job, but at the same time you’re playing with your family as well, and everybody picks each other up no matter what, regardless if they’re playing or not.”
CCU started four returning players Friday and four new players behind Parker, who threw 105 pitches in 4 2/3 innings and allowed eight hits and five runs — just one earned — with six strikeouts, two walks and two runners picked off.
Coastal fell behind 3-0 but took a 9-3 lead with eight runs in the third inning. Tyler Johnson, a returning senior, had an RBI double and single in the inning and finished with a team-high four hits, and Thomas contributed a two-run double in the third.
Kent State pulled within two runs with three in the sixth inning before Gitter led off the bottom of the sixth with his first home run at CCU to push the lead to 11-8. CCU added a pair of runs in the seventh. The Chants committed four errors, contributing to four unearned runs.
“Every win is special but opening day is obviously a little extra special,” Schnall said. “It wasn’t picture perfect but there were some really good moments tonight, and the key is to progress and move forward, and as a coaching staff it’s our job to keep putting guys in the right spot to be successful.”
Thomas had three of CCU’s 15 hits and four RBI, and five CCU pitchers combined to allow 13 hits and strike out 13.
“We did what we needed to do with the bat,” White said. “If we clean up our defense, I feel like we have a good chance of just being a problem every time we show up to the baseball field.”
CCU continues Baseball at the Beach with games at 3 p.m. Saturday vs. Collegiate Baseball No. 16 Central Michigan, 3 p.m. Sunday vs. Kent State, and noon Monday against West Virginia.
Next week’s Carolinas Coastline Classic will feature Illinois, Rutgers, Ball State and Middle Tennessee State.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 9:55 PM.
