The Chants are in! Coastal baseball learns NCAA Tournament destination, opponent

Gary Gilmore’s run as Coastal Carolina’s baseball coach is not done yet.

The Chanticleers (34-23) were selected Monday as an at-large team in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. They’ll travel to face Vanderbilt (38-21) at noon Friday in the Clemson Regional. Host team Clemson (41-14) faces High Point (34-25) at 7 p.m. in the other regional game.

TV channels weren’t immediately set, but all games will stream on ESPN+.

Coastal Carolina was one of the last four at-large teams to make the tournament, the NCAA selection committee revealed Monday. CCU athletic director Matt Hogue is on the committee and serves as its chairman.

The selection comes after a season that started with promise but faltered due to the same factors that ended Coastal’s season in 2023. As coach Gary Gilmore’s final year before retiring, the goal in 2023 was always to make the final season memorable, and preseason projections expected the Chants to rise to the occasion.

Before the first pitch in 2024, outlets like USA Today and Perfect Game projected Coastal as a top-25 team. Like in 2023, the Chants’ offense carried the team in 2024, scoring 25 runs twice. CCU also led the Sun Belt Conference in hits, runs batted in, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

However, pitching problems concerned Coastal throughout the season. The Chants frequently found themselves in high-scoring contests, and they struggled to win tighter games, losing eight straight during April and May. Coastal’s pitchers ranked in the bottom half of the Sun Belt Conference in hits, runs and earned run average. However, the Chants were in the top half of the conference in strikeouts.

Despite CCU’s offensive prowess, pitching hurt Coastal in consecutive seasons. CCU needed more rotational depth at the end of 2023 due to injuries and the shortage of pitchers, which ultimately prevented the Chants from advancing past the regional stage.

Gilmore and his coaching staff attempted to amend the situation via recruiting and the transfer portal, but injuries again hampered Coastal’s options this season. Starting pitchers Jacob Morrison and Matthew Potok, who played critical roles in 2023, missed the entire season recovering from offseason surgeries.

Relief pitcher Darin Horn, one of Coastal’s potential replacements for Teddy Sharkey at closer before the season, has yet to throw a pitch in 2024. The transfer portal also thwarted Gilmore’s plans. Liam Doyle showed promise late in 2023, signs that he could become a crucial anchor in Coastal’s rotation for years to come.

However, Doyle ultimately transferred to Ole Miss before the 2024 season.