CCU Sports Notebook: Baseball program to host Czech Republic national team while raising funds for former player

The Coastal Carolina baseball team has a unique opportunity next week to face some outside competition as part of its fall practice period, and the Chanticleers are hoping to use that platform for a bigger purpose.

Coastal Carolina will host the Czech Republic national team next Thursday Oct. 8 at 6 p.m. at Springs Brooks Stadium while using the evening as a fundraiser and forum for cancer awareness.

Admission is free, but the Chants will be collecting donations to help cover the medical expenses of former star pitcher Ben Smith, who was diagnosed with Burkitt’s leukemia/lymphoma earlier this year.

Additionally, the Coastal Carolina baseball family was further hit with more tough news on that front when Jaymie Thomas, the wife of pitching coach Drew Thomas, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer a couple months ago, head coach Gary Gilmore said.

“The whole purpose of what we’re trying to do, first and foremost, [is] cancer awareness,” Gilmore said. “It’s all around us. It’s in my office here with Coach Thomas’ wife, with Ben. You [often] hear about someone else, but when it’s one of your players or your staff or your staff’s spouse, it really hits home a lot.”

Smith, who posted a 2.57 earned-run average and 181 strikeouts over 178 1/3 inning for the Chants from 2012-14, was drafted in the 17th round by the Houston Astros in 2014 while recovering from Tommy John surgery on his elbow. Just as he was preparing to complete his recovery and make his professional debut in the minor leagues this past summer, he was diagnosed.

While he is not expected to be in attendance at the exhibition game next week, Coastal Carolina will provide fans with a full update on his treatment and Gilmore hopes Smith can visit the team at some point when the time is right.

“I think that’s something he still is wanting to be able to do,” Gilmore said. “I know when he has his treatments, it’s probably been a month since I’ve talked to him, but he has a real tough week the week he has the chemo and progressively gets better. By the week before he has to get the next treatment he actually starts feeling really good. He’s just trying to get through it, and I think he’s at treatment No. 4 or just had four so he’s basically at the halfway point.”

Smith’s family lives in Georgia and he is having to fly to and from Houston for each of his chemotherapy treatments and then is required to stay the following week to be monitored. The Chants are hoping to help with those extra costs, and there is also a fundraising account set up at GoFundMe.com/bensmith where former teammates and others in and around the Coastal Carolina baseball program have pledged more than $13,000 of support so far.

“He’s incurring a considerable amount of cost flying back and forth as well as the stay out there,” Gilmore said. “They have a thing on GoFundMe that people can give them money, and us as a baseball group, a baseball family, if people come through the turnstile, if they don’t want to give anything obviously they don’t have to give anything. We welcome them to be here regardless, but we just want to let everyone know.

“It’s about all we can do aside from giving prayers and support, being able to hopefully take a little financial burden off their back by everyone giving just a little bit of something.”

Gilmore said Smith hopes to resume his professional baseball career in the future.

“When I talked to him he was good. [But] to truly know where somebody is in their mind with that, I don’t think you can ever know unless you’re that person,” he said. “He wants to play again. He feels like the diagnosis and prognosis of where he’s at, at least there’s hope that that can possibly take place.”

As for Thomas, the Chants’ longtime pitching coach, he has been given a break from his out-of-town recruiting duties so he can be home to support his wife Jaymie through her cancer treatments. Assistant coach Matt Schilling is filling in as one of the Chants’ official active recruiters in the meanwhile.

“Everybody’s rallying around them and they’ve got a great support staff of people around them. A lot of people are pitching in doing a lot of things to try to help them out, but until you live that, I don’t know how to say how everything [is],” Gilmore said. “I’ve not had that in my immediate family, I’ve never had to deal with what they’re going through.

“My wife hangs out with her still a good bit. They’re in good positive mental shape so to speak, but they’ve got two young kids, it’s just a battle. It’s hard enough when everything goes perfect, much less having this thing thrown into the middle. ... But I know Drew’s very positive and I know Jaymie is and that’s so much of the battle.”

In regard to the action on the field next Thursday night, it will give the Chants a chance to evaluate some of their newcomers against outside competition.

Gilmore said the organizers for the Czech Republic national team reached out to the program about setting up the game.

“I forget who all else they’re playing in the immediate area, but they’re doing their tour to get themselves ready for the world baseball championships. It will be good for us. We’ve never done this. It will be exciting,” Gilmore said.

“I know they’ve got a handful of minor league guys and stuff, they actually qualified for these world championship games and that’s not the easiest thing to do, so I’m sure they’re going to be fairly talented, more so than what we would ordinarily think of a Czech Republic type team. ... [It’s nice] just to see us get excited about being out here. The fall gets long.”

Men’s soccer keeps climbing

The Coastal Carolina men’s soccer team, up to No. 4 in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll, had a much anticipated home match with NC State cancelled Wednesday night due to rain.

And the forecast isn’t looking great for the Chants’ next home game Sunday afternoon against Campbell.

Coastal Carolina is up to 6-0-1 with just two goals allowed all season and the Chants’ No. 4 national ranking is the best in program history.

Volleyball cleans up in state

The Chants volleyball team made a statement through the state last week by posting convincing road victories over South Carolina (3-1), Winthrop (3-0) and Presbyterian (3-0) in succession.

With that, Coastal Carolina is up to 10-4 overall and 2-0 in the Big South as they prepare to host High Point (Friday at 7 p.m.) and Campbell (Saturday at 2 p.m.) this weekend at The HTC Center.

Senior middle blocker Eszter Nagy was named the Big South Player of the Week for the second time in her collegiate career for her contributions to that three-game sweep, including a team-leading .512 hitting percentage along with 2.60 kills per set.

Nice strides for cross country

The Coastal Carolina cross country teams are in Spartanburg on Saturday for the Upstate Invitational after the women’s team gave a highly encouraging performance last weekend in Charlottesville, Va.

The women moved up three spots to No. 7 in the latest Southeast Region poll released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association after finishing seventh out of 19 teams while besting three higher-ranked teams in the region at the Panorama Farms Invitational.

Senior Letitia Saayman placed third out of 123 runners in the women’s 5K with a time of 17 minutes, 2 seconds.

Women’s soccer rolling

The Coastal Carolina women’s soccer team is riding a season-best three-game winning streak after a 2-1 overtime win at Longwood last Saturday.

The Chants (6-4, 2-0 Big South) are scheduled to host Gardner-Webb at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Freshman forward Kayla Christian leads the team with five goals and one assist while sophomore forward Daniella Famili has four goals and an assist.

Golf update

The women’s golf team is scheduled to compete at the Wendy’s Invitational in Mount Pleasant on Monday and Tuesday.

The Chants tied for sixth out of 18 teams this week at the Johnnie Imes Invitational in Columbia, Mo. Their 2-over 290 in the final round tied for the 19th best collective round in program history while sophomore Malene Krolboll Hansen tied for 15th individually with an even-par 216 over 54 holes.

Also encouraging was the performance of rookie Marie Lunackova, who tied for 20th in the 96-golfer field with a 1-over 217 (74-71-72) and was named the Big South’s women’s golf freshman of the week.

A native of the Czech Republic, Lunackova has a 74.83 scoring average through six rounds this fall.

The men’s golf team, meanwhile, gets the weekend off as the Tar Heel Intercollegiate in Chapel Hill, N.C., has been canceled.

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 5:40 PM with the headline "CCU Sports Notebook: Baseball program to host Czech Republic national team while raising funds for former player."