Coastal Carolina will host an NCAA Regional for the seventh time, but the Chanticleers will need some help to host a Super Regional.
Despite posting the most wins in the country, winning the Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament championships, winning their last 18 games and being ranked eighth in the college baseball Rating Percentage Index (RPI), the Chanticleers didn’t receive a top-eight seed that would have guaranteed a Super Regional in Conway if they win the regional.
Instead, the Chants (48-11) are the No. 13 seed in the country.
Coastal is hosting a regional at Springs Brooks Stadium that includes Florida, East Carolina and Fairfield, and is scheduled to open play at 6 p.m. Friday against Fairfield.
“Maybe we didn’t get the seed we wanted, but we love to play baseball and we can’t wait to play more . . . especially when we get to play at home,” said redshirt sophomore Jacob Morrison, the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year. “We love playing at home. We play very well at home.
“. . . I was a part of the team that hosted [a regional] my freshman year and it was probably the best experience of my life. It’s something I’ve been dreaming about all the time so I’m really excited to be back in this atmosphere and in this environment, especially being at home.”
Coastal is tied with Northeastern (48-9) for the most wins in Division I this season.
The regional is a four-team, double-elimination tournament. Two games are scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday – all at noon and 6 p.m. – and if necessary a single title game will be played on Monday.
Florida will face East Carolina at noon Friday to open the regional, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2. CCU vs. Fairfield will be broadcast online on ESPN+.
CCU's regional is paired in the tournament bracket with a regional hosted by fourth-seeded Auburn, which includes N.C. State (33-19), Stetson (40-20) and Central Connecticut (30-14). One of those visiting teams would need to knock off Auburn for Coastal to host a Super Regional, if the Chants get through their regional.
Regional opponents
Florida (38-20), one of a record 13 SEC teams in the 64-team tournament, is making its 17th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance under coach Kevin O'Sullivan, the second-longest streak in the country. It has been to nine of the last 14 College World Series, including 2016 when CCU beat the top-ranked Gators 2-1 in its opening game of the CWS.
East Carolina (33-25) has made the most NCAA tournament appearances (33) without reaching the College World Series in college baseball history and won the American Athletic Conference tournament as the No. 6 seed to qualify this year.
Coastal took two of three at East Carolina in early March, including an extra-innings win in the series finale, and is 10-7 all-time against the Pirates. In their last regional meeting, CCU lost to East Carolina in 2022 in the Monday championship game in Greenville, N.C.
Fairfield (39-17) won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament championship game on a 10th-inning home run by freshman Nolan Colby for a 7-6 win over Rider.
Fairfield coach Bill Currier is in his 13th season overseeing the program and has led the Stags to six MAAC regular season titles, two MAAC tournament titles, three NCAA Regional appearances, and a top-25 national ranking.
In their opening game, the Chants will likely face either graduate student lefthander Bowen Baker, who is 8-1 with a 3.20 earned-run average and opponent batting average of .241, or sophomore righthander Ben Alekson, who is 9-1 with a 3.24 ERA and .230 opponent batting average.
The Stags have five starting position players batting at least .300, led by senior infielder Dean Ferrara at .381 with eight home runs and 14 doubles, and junior outfielder Matthew Bucciero, the MAAC tournament MVP who is batting .351 with 14 homers, four triples, 13 doubles and a team-high 66 RBI.
Junior infielder Luke Nomura is also a power source, with a .331 average, 14 homers and 16 doubles.
“A team that has 39 wins, you can’t take for granted,” CCU first-year coach Kevin Schnall said. “I know they’ve got two guys in their lineup that have 14 home runs, they’ve got three guys in their lineup that have stolen 20 or more bases, they’ve got an arm that’s 9-1 and another arm that’s 8-1 and they both have low-3 ERAs. So they’re a really good team. Bill Currier has been around for a long time, he’s a really good coach and they’re going to be really prepared.”
Fairfield is making a return visit to Conway. Coastal beat the Stags 14-7 in the 2023 season opener in the only previous meeting between the teams.
Sun Belt snubbed
The Sun Belt Conference got little respect from the NCAA Baseball Selection Committee.
After getting four teams into the NCAA tournament over the last couple years, the Sun Belt was awarded just two teams this season.
Southern Miss (44-14), which won 18 straight games before losing to Coastal in the Sun Belt championship game on Sunday, was selected as the last regional host as a No. 16 seed.
Troy (39-21), the No. 3 seed in the Sun Belt tournament, was one of the last four teams that weren’t selected for the field of 64 despite being ranked in the top 25 for much of the season and having an RPI of 47th.
“[You have] the SEC with 13 teams, ACC with nine and the Big 12 with eight, that only leaves eight at-large spots, which makes it so challenging,” said selection committee chairman and Southeastern Louisiana University athletic director Jay Artigues during the college baseball selection show Monday on ESPN2.
Coastal is making its 22nd NCAA tournament appearance, and fourth straight. The Chants have reached three Super Regionals in 2008, 2010 and 2016 and won the national title in 2016.
The Chants won the Sun Belt tournament title Sunday with a 7-5 win over Southern Miss at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Alabama.
Conway Regional tickets – reserve standing room or boardwalk seats at Springs Brooks Stadium – can be purchased online on Coastal Carolina's website. Reserved seating is sold out. Single-game general admission tickets, if available, go on sale at 9 a.m. Thursday. The CCU ticket office is closed Monday and reopens at 9 a.m. Tuesday.