Coastal Carolina Baseball: A Look at the 2017 Season

Coastal Carolina Baseball is looking to build on their success from last year.

The team has high hopes for the 2017 season and is looking to make a run at the College World Series

Follow along here for all the latest news and information on the Coastal Carolina baseball team

2017 Coastal Carolina Baseball Team Outlook

The Coastal Carolina baseball team enters the 2017 season ranked as the No. 1 team in the country by several publications, including Baseball America D1Baseball and perfect game The Chanticleers are coming off a historic 2016 campaign in which they won the College World Series becoming the first team ever to win the title as a No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA tournament Coastal Carolina also won both the Sun Belt regular season and tournament titles in 2016.

While there is no question that the Chanticleers have some big shoes to fill this season, they do return a number of Key Players from last year’s squad, including Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Andrew Beckwith, who was also named a First Team All-American by several publications. Additionally, Coastal Carolina will have some new faces in 2017, as they welcome a talented freshman class that was ranked as the No. 15 recruiting class in the country by Baseball America

With a mix of experience and talent, Coastal Carolina looks to be one of the top teams in college baseball once again in 2017 and should be a force to be reckoned with come NCAA Tournament time.

Pitching Rotation

The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers will have a different looking pitching rotation in 2017 with the departure of pitchers like Andrew Beckwith, who was a key part of the team’s success in recent years The team will have to rely on some new and untested arms to step up and fill the void. Here is a look at the projected pitching rotation for the 2017 season:

1. Junior right-hander Nick Povey will be the team’s ace this season. He is coming off a strong 2016 campaign in which he posted a 3.38 ERA in 14 starts. Povey has Good Stuff and should be able to provide the Chanticleers with quality innings at the top of the rotation.

2. Senior left-hander Alex Cunningham is also returning for his final season with the Chanticleers. He will likely slot into the second spot in the rotation after posting a 3.86 ERA in 16 starts last year. Cunningham doesn’t have overwhelming stuff, but he knows how to pitch and should be a solid middle-of-the-rotation option for Coastal Carolina

3. Junior right-hander Austin Kitchen is expected to be the third starter in the rotation this season. He made seven starts last year and pitched to a 4.50 ERA. Kitchen has good size and could be poised for a breakout season in 2017 if he can find more consistency with his pitches.

4. The fourth spot in the rotation is up for grabs, but it appears that freshman right-hander Jason Richmond will get the first crack at it. Richmond comes to Coastal Carolina from Newberry College where he was an all-conference performer last year. He will need to adjust to pitching against better competition, but Richmond has potential to be a solid back-end starter for the Chanticleers this season.

Infield

The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers baseball team is off to a great start this season. The team is currently 23-5 overall and 11-2 in Sun Belt Conference play. The Chanticleers have been led by a strong infield all season. Here’s a look at the team’s key players

First baseman Connor Owings has been one of the top batters in the Sun Belt Conference hitting .333 with six home runs and 27 RBIs. Third baseman Jordan Gore has also been a force at the plate, batting .327 with four home runs and 25 RBIs. shortstop Michael Paez has been solid defensively and is hitting .291 with three home runs and 22 RBIs.

The Chanticleers will look to continue their success this weekend when they host Louisiana-Monroe for a three-game series

Outfield

The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers outfield for the 2017 season will once again be a strength of the team. All three starters in 2016 – Anthony Marks, Connor Owings, and G.K. Young – return this season, giving the Chants one of the most experienced and successful outfields in recent memory.

Marks is a two-time Big South Conference Player of the Year and was named a third-team All-American by baseball America in 2016. He is a career .353 hitter with 45 stolen bases and he will provide a huge spark at the top of the lineup for Coastal this season.

Owings, who hit cleanup behind Marks last season, is also a two-time Big South Conference Player of the Year. He is a career .327 hitter with 74 RBIs, and he has the ability to play all three field positions

Young rounds out the starting trio in right field. He is a career .293 hitter with 17 Home Runs and 80 RBIs, and he has the potential to be one of the best power hitters in college baseball this season.

2017 Schedule

The 2017 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Baseball Team will represent Coastal Carolina University in the 2017 NCAA Division I baseball season The Chanticleers will play their home games at Springs Brooks Stadium as a member of the Sun Belt Conference They will be led by Head Coach Gary Gilmore, in his fifteenth season at CCU.

Coastal Carolina enters the 2017 season coming off a 44-19 (24-6 Sun Belt) campaign in 2016, in which the team reached the NCAA Super Regional for the first time in school history before losing to eventual national runner-up Arizona. The Chants won both the regular season and tournament championships in the Sun Belt Conference in 2016, earning the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament

Key Games

As the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers get set to embark on the 2017 season, there are a few key games that will have a big impact on how their season plays out.

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The first game of the season is always an important one, but this year it takes on even more significance as the Chants take on in-state rival Clemson. This game will be a good measure of where Coastal Carolina stands early on in the season, and could set the tone for the rest of the year.

Another key game for the Chants comes a few weeks later when they travel to Florida to take on No. 1 Florida State This is always a tough matchup for Coastal Carolina, but if they can compete with the Seminoles it will bode well for the rest of their season.

Coastal Carolina’s final key game comes at the end of the Regular Season when they host Louisiana-Lafayette. The Ragin’ Cajuns are always a tough opponent, but if Coastal can come out on top it will give them a boost heading into the postseason.

Rivalries

Coastal Carolina Baseball has a long and storied tradition of rivalries, both within the state of South Carolina and across the country. The Chanticleers have faced off against some of the most prestigious programs in college baseball and the list of rivals is always changing. Here is a look at some of the most notable rivals for the 2017 season.

In-state rivals:
The Chanticleers have a strong rivalry with Clemson, which is one of the most successful programs in college baseball The two teams have met over 100 times since 1977, and Coastal has a winning record against Clemson. The Chanticleers also have a rivalry with South Carolina another successful program. The two teams have met over 150 times since 1975, and Coastal has a winning record against South Carolina

Out-of-state rivals:
The Chanticleers have a rivalry with Florida State which is one of the top programs in college baseball The two teams have met over 50 times since 1977, and Coastal has a winning record against Florida State The Chanticleers also have a rivalry with Georgia Tech another top program. The two teams have met over 60 times since 1977, and Coastal has a losing record against Georgia Tech

Fans and Atmosphere

Coastal Carolina University’s Baseball team the Chanticleers, made history in 2016 when they became the first team to ever win the College World Series as a #16 seed. The team’s run to glory was propelled by great fan support, with “CCU” chants echoing through TD Ameritrade Park throughout the tournament. The atmosphere at a Chanticleer Home game is electric, and 2017 should be no different. Here’s a look at what CCU fans can expect this season.

Postseason

In 2017, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers made their sixth straight appearance in the NCAA tournament The Chants, as they are commonly called, entered the postseason with a 45-16 record and were awarded the #4 seed in their region. They went on to win their first two games of the tournament before losing to Arkansas in the regional final. Although their season came to an end short of their ultimate goal, the Chants’ 2017 campaign was once again a successful one.

In preparation for the 2018 season, let’s take a look at some of the key numbers from Coastal’s 2017 campaign. The Chants finished the regular season with a .293 team batting average and a 4.18 team ERA. Their 45 wins were good for second in the Sun Belt Conference behind only Louisiana-Lafayette, who finished with 46.

Coastal will look to build on their success from last season as they enter 2018 with high hopes once again. With a strong returning core of players and some promising newcomers, there is no reason to think that the Chants can’t make another deep run in the NCAA tournament this year.

National Recognition

In recent years Coastal Carolina Baseball has gained national recognition, thanks in part to its successful run in the 2016 College World Series The team is looking to build on that success in 2017, with a strong lineup of returning players and some promising newcomers.

The Chanticleers are ranked #17 in the nation in the Preseason USA Today/Coaches Poll and #20 in the perfect game poll. They will open their season on February 17th with a three-game series against UNC-Greensboro.