Coastal Baseball Ranked 24th in Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll

Dec. 20, 2010

CONWAY - The Coastal Carolina baseball program, a consensus top 12 program at the conclusion of the 2010 season, is ranked 24th in the Collegiate Baseball 2011 NCAA Division I Preseason Poll.

The Chants, who set school and Big South records with 55 wins in 2010, ended this past season with the NCAA's second-best RPI and will once again face an impressive slate for 2011 as nine of its upcoming season's opponents are also in the Collegiate Baseball top 40 with an additional six more opponents also receiving votes in the Collegiate Baseball poll.

Clemson, at #4, headline's the list of CCU ranked opponents, followed by #17 Virginia, #27 North Carolina and #28 San Diego - all of whom the Chanticleers will face on the road in 2011. Coastal will play a home-and-home series with #35 College of Charleston, while #33 California, #27 Kansas State and #40 Kent State will all be in the Grand Strand in February and March for Coastal Carolina's various Caravelle tournaments. Among those CCU opponents also receiving votes are North Carolina State, Liberty, Tennessee Tech, The Citadel, Western Kentucky and Pepperdine.

Coastal, ranked 11th in the final 2010 Collegiate Baseball poll after winning the Myrtle Beach Regional and falling to eventual national champion South Carolina in the Myrtle Beach Super Regional, lost 54 percent of its run production from last year, including All-American Rico Noel's 63 RBI, All-American Jose Iglesias' 80 RBI and Chance Gilmore's 55 RBI. Also, the Chants lost fifth-round pick and All-American Cody Wheeler's 12-0 record and 113 strikeouts in 111.1 innings as well as All-Big South pick and Academic All-American Austin Fleet's team-high eight saves and 6-2 record.

Despite those key losses and a few others, Coastal Carolina returns numerous key pieces to the 2011 squad. Leading hitter and second baseman Tommy La Stella (.378 with 14 doubles, 14 home runs and 66 RBI) is key among the returning every-day plays along with centerfielder Scott Woodward, who ranked second in the national behind Noel with 55 stolen bases while hitting .324 with 75 runs scored and an on-base percentage of .495. Also back are fellow All-American candidates Taylor Motter at shortstop and Daniel Bowman at right field. Motter batted .336 with 22 doubles, 12 home runs and 49 RBI while Bowman was one of just two Chants to play in all 65 games, not making an error in 141 chances, and hitting 15 home runs. Rich Witten, who hit .312 as a late-season addition to the starting lineup and was both All-Big South Tournament and Myrtle Beach Regional All-Tournament selection, will start 2011 as the Chants' first baseman.

On the mound, preseason second team All-American Anthony Meo is back for his junior season. The national Player of the Year candidate was 13-2 in 2010 with 94 strikeouts in 96.2 innings and 21-4 for his two-year career with a 2.74 career ERA. Also back is 2010 Freshman All-American Ryan Connolly, who specialized as the CCU set-up man for Fleet. Connelly figures to take over as the closer, going 3-0 with a 2.15 ERA in 40 appearances in 2010. Those two will be joined by the likes of veterans Matt Rein (7-1, 2.97 ERA), Keith Hessler (2-2 3.30 ERA), Jim Birmingham (6-2, 4.82 ERA) and Jackson Geary (1-0, 2.12 ERA).

In all, Coastal returns 17 lettermen, including five starting position players and eight pitchers, while losing 13 lettermen. There are 17 newcomers to the 2011 squad, including the following who ended 2010 fall drills penciled in as starters or in the mix for a starting spot: true freshman Tripp Martin (3B with sophomore Josh Conway), true freshman Jacob May (left field/DH with senior Hayes Orton), true freshman Tyler Herb (starting pitcher), redshirt freshman Stefan del Pino (starting pitcher) and sophomore Aaron Burke (pitcher).

 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's NCAA Div. I Pre-Season Poll

(As of Dec. 20, 2010 - Bold Indicates 2011 CCU Opponent)
Rank School ('10 Final Record)      Points  1. Texas Christian (54-14)        495  2. Florida (47-17)                494  3. UCLA (51-17)                   493  4. Clemson (45-25)                489  5. Vanderbilt (46-20)             486  6. Oklahoma (50-18)               483  7. Texas (50-13)                  481  8. Texas A&M (43-21-1)            480  9. Oregon (40-24)                 479 10. Stanford (31-25)               474
 11. Arizona St. (52-10)            473 12. Cal. St. Fullerton (46-18)     470 13. Florida St. (48-20)            469 14. South Carolina (54-16)         467 15. Louisiana St. (41-22)          465 16. Connecticut (48-16)            462 17. Virginia (51-14)               457 18. Miami (Fla.) (43-20)           455 19. Georgia Tech (47-15)           454 20. Louisville (50-14)             451
 21. Rice (40-23)                   450 22. Arizona (34-24)                445 23. Wichita St. (41-19)            443 24. COASTAL CAROLINA (55-10)       440 25. Auburn (43-21)                 437 26. St. John's (43-20)             435 27. North Carolina (38-32)         434 28. San Diego (37-22)              427 29. Fresno St. (38-25)             426 30. Pittsburgh (38-18)             425
 31. Washington St. (37-22)         422 32. Arkansas (43-21)               418 33. California (29-25)             417 34. U.C. Irvine (39-21)            414 35. College of Charleston (44-19)  412 36. Florida Atlantic (37-24)       409 37. Kansas St. (37-22)             407 38. Hawaii (35-28)                 402 39. Baylor (36-24)                 401 40. Kent St. (39-25)               398
Other Teams Receiving Votes: Florida International, U.C. Riverside, N.C. State, Oregon St., Mississippi, Kentucky,
Southern California, Washington, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi St., Oklahoma St., Missouri, South Florida,
Nebraska, Cal Poly, Long Beach St., U.C. Santa Barbara, Florida Gulf Coast, Liberty, Minnesota, Michigan, James Madison,
Southern Mississippi, East Carolina, Central Florida, Central Michigan, Bethune-Cookman, Illinois St., San Diego St.,
Tennessee Tech, The Citadel, Texas St., Northwestern St., Oral Roberts, Louisiana Lafayette, Western Kentucky, Lamar,
Portland, Pepperdine, Gonzaga, Nevada, New Mexico St., San Jose St., Charlotte, Mercer, East Tennessee St., Jacksonville,
Georgia St., Tulane, Utah Valley St., New Mexico, Stony Brook, Iowa, Wisc. Milwaukee, Canisius, Bryant, Jacksonville St.,
Dallas Baptist, Le Moyne.

Coastal Baseball Ranked 24th in Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll

Players Mentioned

Jim Birmingham

Daniel Bowman

Aaron Burke

Ryan Connolly

Josh Conway

Austin Fleet

Jackson Geary

Chance Gilmore

Tyler Herb

Keith Hessler

Jose Iglesias

Tripp Martin

Jacob May

Anthony Meo

Taylor Motter

Rico Noel

Hayes Orton

Stefan Pino

Matt Rein

Tommy Stella

Cody Wheeler

Rich Witten

Scott Woodward

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Coastal Baseball Ranked 24th in Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll

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Players Mentioned

Jim Birmingham

Daniel Bowman

Aaron Burke

Ryan Connolly

Josh Conway

Austin Fleet

Jackson Geary

Chance Gilmore

Tyler Herb

Keith Hessler

Jose Iglesias

Tripp Martin

Jacob May

Anthony Meo

Taylor Motter

Rico Noel

Hayes Orton

Stefan Pino

Matt Rein

Tommy Stella

Cody Wheeler

Rich Witten

Scott Woodward

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