Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
Overall Rank: #14
Conference Rank: #1 Sun Belt
Coastal Carolina heads into the 2019 season in position to make another run to Omaha as the Chanticleers bring back a loaded squad led by head coach Gray Gilmore. Coastal Carolina had the chance to host a regional last June at Spring Brooks Stadium and they went 1-2. The Chanticleers beat LIU Brooklyn and lost to Washington and Connecticut as they couldn’t slow down both lineups.
2018: 43-19, 23-7
2018 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Gary Gilmore
Key Departed Players:
Seth Lancaster, INF, .305 BA, 20 HR, 57 RBI
Kevin Woodall, INF, .298 BA, 19 HR, 62 RBI
Lee Sponseller, OF, .290 BA, 6 HR, 42 RBI
Jason Bilous, P, 4.00 ERA, 7-3 W/L, 83.1 IP, 66 BB, 105 SO
Zack Hopeck, P, 4.15 ERA, 6-4 W/L, 86.2 IP, 34 BB, 71 SO
Key Returning Players:
Parker Chavers, OF, .323 BA, 7 HR, 42 RBI, 9 SB
Zach Biermann, INF/DH, .302 BA, 13 HR, 57 RBI
Cory Wood, INF/OF, .296 BA, 0 HR, 22 RBI, 17 SB
Kieton Rivers, OF, .285 BA, 5 HR, 50 RBI, 10 SB
Matt Eardensohn, P, 2.18 ERA, 7-0 W/L, 57.2 IP, 14 BB, 51 SO
Zach McCambley, P, 3.14 ERA, 3-0 W/L, 48.2 IP, 25 BB, 50 SO
Jay Causey, P, 2.28 ERA, 2-2 W/L, 43.1 IP, 20 BB, 39 SO, 5 SV
Anthony Veneziano, P, 3.81 ERA, 7-1 W/L, 59.0 IP, 36 BB, 61 SO
Projection:
The offense returns a nice mix of talent and experience, but will have some work to do replace the power lost in the middle of the order. Zach Biermann will need to add to his impressive power numbers in 2019 after hitting 13 homeruns and driving in 57 runs last season. Parker Chavers, Cory Wood, and Kieton Rivers will provide a nice mix of hitting for hitting average, some power, and great speed. Zach McCambley has a great shot to be the Friday night starter and he will need to extend himself out innings wise in 2019. Matt Eardensohn went 7-0 in 2018 with a 2.18 earned run average and limited opposing hitters to a .188 batting average. Anthony Veneziano should be another staple in the weekend rotation as he went 7-1 with a 3.81 earned run average and started 12 games in 2018. Jay Causey should be the closer as he did a nice job of going after hitters last season, striking out 39 batters in 43.1 innings and collecting five saves. The schedule will allow the Chanticleers to build some momentum before playing non-conference games with Wake Forest, San Diego, Washington, Oregon State, Clemson, and Connecticut. If the pitching staff can take a step forward and the offense stays consistent, then Coastal Carolina will win well over 40 games and be in the mix to host a Regional once again.
Projected Postseason: NCAA Baseball Tournament
