Pitching depth and potential driving optimism for Chanticleers heading into 2016 season

As the Coastal Carolina baseball team made its return to the NCAA Regionals last spring after a one-year absence, the Chanticleers were riding a wave of positivity for what that highly encouraging season signaled for the program in the very near future.

Meanwhile, it was an entirely different narrative for veteran right-hander Tyler Poole, who was wrapping up the most trying season of his collegiate career and wouldn’t get to pitch at all in the postseason.

Once a highly-touted two-sport recruit who was drafted by the Boston Red Sox out of high school, had initially committed to play in the SEC at Mississippi and would also spend a year on the Chants’ basketball team before a knee injury forced him to focus just on baseball, Poole struggled to a career-worst 4.55 earned-run average in 2015 while racking up more walks (31) than strikeouts (27).

The storylines merge Friday as Poole is set to take the mound for Coastal Carolina in its season opener against Appalachian State with his return reflective of the overall optimism that follows the Chants into this new season.

“[We’re] definitely deeper. The experience is not even close,” Chants pitching coach Drew Thomas said this week while sizing up his pitching staff. “That’s the biggest thing, we finally have guys in the program who have been here two years, three years and luckily some guys four and five. That’s very unusual.”

This is year number five for Poole, and the 6-foot-6 righty is eager to show Friday that he can be a factor for a team with College World Series aspirations – a team that, again, hopes to lean on a much deeper pitching staff than it had while finishing 39-21 last year.

“I feel great. I’m honestly feeling very blessed to be starting on Friday. I’ve worked very hard to get to this point,” Poole said. “I attribute that a lot to the coaching staff and the guys behind the scenes like our weight trainer coach Nick White and our health trainer Barry Lippman. They’ve been working hard to keep me healthy, and my body feels great right now – better than it has in the past. I’m just looking forward to Friday. I’m ready for the season to start.”

With Poole throwing Friday, junior righty Alex Cunningham (6-0, 2.56 ERA in 2015) will start Saturday against N.C. State while the coaches haven’t settled on a starter yet for the game Sunday with reigning national champion Virginia.

Meanwhile, highly-touted freshman righty Jason Bilous will make his collegiate debut Tuesday against UNC Wilmington. Making his way back from Tommy John surgery, which didn’t deter the Los Angeles Dodgers from making him a $600,000 offer as a 29th-round draft pick last summer, Bilous will be on a 50-pitch limit in his first start, but he could be an option for the weekend rotation as the season progresses.

Xavier transfer Adam Hall, a 6-foot-6 senior righty, also joins the mix and could slot in as a starter or reliever, while a deep bullpen led by sophomore closer Bobby Holmes (4-1, 2.90 ERA in 2015) and a cast of versatile veterans in senior Mike Morrison (2-3, 3.97), senior Patrick Corbett (returning after missing the last two seasons due to injury and two surgeries) and junior Andrew Beckwith (6-4, 3.26) gives the Chants a bevy of proven options as the coaches put the pitching puzzle together with far more pieces than they had at the end of last season.

If Poole can return to form, though, that would help everything else fall into place.

He hasn’t been a full-time starter since his redshirt-freshman season in 2013 when he went 6-2 with a 3.86 ERA and a 40-to-17 strikeout-to-walk ratio, but he says he feels better than he has in years after being derailed by a back injury and its aftereffects last season.

“It wasn’t necessarily the pain; it was more the mechanical issues that came from it,” he said. “When I had that back issue I had a lot of rehab to do and it was more stiff and painful. It just got my mechanics out of whack, my timing was awful, I wasn’t throwing a lot of strikes.”

So far through the preseason, that hasn’t been a problem.

“Tyler’s been a pleasant surprise all spring,” Chants coach Gary Gilmore said. “He had one little shaky outing out of four and the other three were pretty good. He has been having command of the ball, [throwing] 88-93 velocity wise. The offspeed stuff has been good. ... He’s way more of the strike-thrower guy that he was before the knee injuries and the back injury.”

Said Thomas: “He’s done really well. ... [The trainers have] done a great job to get him back to where he was. His confidence is way better, but he’s just moving better. All the things he needed to fix up mechanically and time up, he can do now so that’s the biggest difference.”

Health is the key for the Chants in general.

Cunningham, who served as the team’s ace the first half of last season before persistent arm troubles limited him the rest of the way, has had no limitations this preseason and is being counted on to lead the staff.

And all eyes will no doubt be on Bilous when he makes his debut Tuesday.

Envisioning how all of those pitching pieces could potentially come together is the biggest reason the Chants believe they are equipped to take another big step forward this season.

That’s the plan, at least.

“We’ve got a heck of a team this year,” Poole said. “We can really make a run. We just have to come out ready to play every single day, and I’m going to do everything in my power to help this team get to Omaha.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 9:09 PM with the headline "Pitching depth and potential driving optimism for Chanticleers heading into 2016 season."