Small but dangerous: Coastal Carolina

College baseball season is about to begin. Here you will find everything you need to

know about Coastal Carolina’s team, ready to take over this season. Head Coach Gary R.

Gilmore is on his 23rd season, and ready to bring one of the best performances of the

CCU Chanticleers that the Sun Belt Conference has yet to see.

The team is ready to bring excitement to the diamond. This past January 14th, the team

was ranked no. 21 in D1Baseball’s Preseason Top 25 poll. This is a national ranking and

Coastal Carolina has been included for the third time. The 2016 National Champions

have been hard at work preparing for this upcoming season. As the 2016 big win proved,

Coastal Carolina might be a small school, but this does not stop their baseball fire.

The team’s history is long and full of bright moments. CCU has won more than 50 games

and is often at the top of their regional tournament. It could be considered one of the

Sun Belt’s top teams. As previously mentioned, its most recent and notable accomplishment was winning the 2016 College World Series. The team has appeared in 15 NCAA tournaments. In 2016, it was the last time the team was a part of the Big South

Conference, and then the team switched to its current conference. In 2018, CCU was the

Sun Belt Conference champion.

Coach Gilmore has been head coach at Coastal Carolina since 1996. His history with the

team goes back to 1979 when he played as a center fielder for two seasons, ’79 and ’80.

Gilmore has been able to build up the team throughout the years, with consecutive

appearances at the NCAA Tournament from 2001 to 2005, and then again from 2007 to

2012. In 2002 and 2005, Gilmore was named Big South Conference Coach of the Year.

For the CCU Chanticleers progress has not been easy, but a big part of the growth the

team has experienced has been thanks to Gary R. Gilmore.

This year, Coastal Carolina’s Roster is made up by some of the best. Returning this year

is outfielder Parker Chavers. Chavers is now a Sophomore, but last year he became the

most decorated Freshman in CCU history. He played 62 games, with 60 starts. Another

player fans will be glad to see in the roster is junior Cory Wood. Wood had a good season

last year, where he played in 58 games and made 57 starts. Along with Matt Eardensohn

and Zach Biermann, Wood was named to the 2019 Collegiate Baseball Preseason All-

American team. While Eardensohn and Biermann were named to the third team, Wood

earned a spot on the second. Wood’s position is Infielder and Outfielder. Eardensohn is

a Right Hand Pitcher, and last year he was named Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week on the

week of April 17th. Biermann’s position is 1B/DH and, in 2018, was tabbed the Sun Belt

Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Of course, there are multiple other returning

players we are excited to see back in the field.

Some departing players are Zach Hopeck, Garret Sheppard, Jason Bilous, Demarco

Reaves, and many others. On the other hand, we will have some fresh faces in the field,

such as catcher Dallas Callahan. Other Freshmen to watch are right-hand pitcher Alaska

Abney, Infielder Nick Lucky, and left-hand pitcher Garret McDaniels. We expect the

team will be champion of the Sun Belt Tournament once more, thanks to the Roster of

outstanding players and exciting recruits.

The team is very excited to start the new season. For instance, last Christmas Eve,

Parker Chavers tweeted “All I want for Christmas is baseball season to be here #53days”.

Also, the team has been training hard since the fall and documenting it in their Athletic

Performance Twitter profile, @CCUBaseball_AP. On the topic of the physical

conditioning of the team, Nick White, the team’s speed, conditioning, and strength

coach, said to WMBF News this past January 16th that: “Every single play comes down

to a difference in milliseconds. Beating out a play at first, running out an infield single, it

could be the difference between winning and losing.”

What will the season bring?