Baseball Earns Top Seed at the NCAA Tempe Regional
5/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Coastal Carolina University baseball team earned the top seed in the NCAA Tempe Regional and will face fourth-seed University of Nevada at Las Vegas Friday, June 3 at 5 p.m. EDT (2 p.m. PDT) in Packard Stadium, the NCAA announced this morning on their selection show. The other teams in the Tempe Regional include host Arizona State University and East Carolina University.
The Chanticleers (48-14) advance to a regional for the fifth straight season and earn their first number-one seed in school history. Coastal also is the only top seed in the tournament that is not a host school. Coastal has won a school record 48 games and won the regular season title in the Big South Conference. Coastal lost in the second championship game to Winthrop 13-7 in the Big South Tournament.
Coastal is led offensively by junior Mike Costanzo (Springfield, Pa./Archbishop Carroll), who leads the team in batting average (.388), hits (85), home runs (15), slugging percentage (.671), on-base percentage (.543) and walks (68). Costanzo is one of 16 semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and is a two-time Big South Player of the Year and earned first team all-Big South as both a pitcher and a first baseman. Junior Michael DeJesus (Manapalan, N.J./East Carolina) and sophomore Dom Duggan (Cranberry Twp., Pa./John Carroll) were first team all-Big South selections, while senior Chris Todd (Seattle, Wash./Bellevue C.C.) earned second team honors.
On the mound, junior Ricky Shefka (Kinston, N.C./Old Dominion) is 11-2 with a 2.51 earned run average and leads the Chanticleers with 76 strikeouts. He was a first team all-Big South selection, while senior Byron Binda (Stafford, Va./North Stafford) earned second team all-Big South honors. Costanzo leads the club with 13 saves and has an 8-1 record and a 1.75 ERA.
UNLV (34-27) earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals by winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament. The Rebels defeated BYU 7-4 in the MWC final. UNLV is led in batting average by JC Sibley, who is hitting .383 on the year. Justin Tellem has 16 home runs and 42 RBI.
Arizona State (34-22) are led by Travis Buck’s .388 batting and 38 RBI. Jeff Larish was a preseason all-American selection and has 17 home runs and 56 RBI. The Sun Devils tied for third in the Pacific 10 Conference with a 15-9 record.
East Carolina (35-24) is led by Brian Cavanaugh’s .379 batting average while Drew Costanzo has 11 home runs and 41 RBI. On the mound, Ricky Brooks has a 3.75 ERA and 62 strikeouts. Coastal defeated East Carolina 11-5 in the Baseball at the Beach Tournament Feb. 18.
