Chants Set for UConn at Clemson Regional
6/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 2, 2011
Cosatal Carolina Regional Baseball Notes in PDF Format 
VIDEO: Head Coach Gary Gilmore- 2011 Clemson Regional Press Conference
VIDEO: Anthony Meo- 2011 Clemson Regional Press Conference
CLEMSON, S.C. - Coastal Carolina will be making its 11th NCAA Regional appearance in school history, its fifth straight and 10th in the last 11 years. The only time the Chants failed to make the postseason came in 2006 when Coastal finished 30-27 and was third in the Big South.
Coastal is 15-17 in Regionals and 0-4 in Super Regionals. The Chants have been a #1 seed in four of the last
seven years, including a #4 national seed in 2010. Coastal has won two Regionals, but fell at the 2008 Cary Super Regional to North Carolina and dropped two, one-run games to eventual national champion South Carolina at the 2010 Myrtle Beach Regional.
Coastal has faced Clemson before in a Regional when the Chants were the top seed and hosted the 2007 Myrtle Beach Regional with the #2 seeded Tigers. Clemson handed Coastal two loses, 11-8 and 15-3, to advance.
2011 Clemson Regional Press Conference Quotes
Coastal Carolina Head Coach Gary Gilmore
Opening statement:
"We're glad to be here. Our kids are playing well and we had a great tournament last weekend. This may be the toughest regional matchup in the country and we're glad to be a part of it. I think we deserve to be here and we're really looking forward to the challenge."
On familiarity with Clemson:
"You know, I'm a little tired of Coach Leggett beating me so many times. Our kids feel very comfortable playing here. Each one of our guys has played here at least once every year in their career. The ballpark is familiar to us and it's like a midweek atmosphere for us, but with much more at stake. We feel very good about playing here."
On starting righty Anthony Meo in game-one:
"Anthony is our best guy. I know he's chomping at the bit to get a huge regional win under his belt. I know he also wants to get back to the super regionals with another chance to win. It's going to be a great challenge for him. It's a good matchup with the lineup that Connecticut has and it's going to be a great game. Connecticut has an incredible young man going for them and we have one going for us. It's probably the best pitching matchup in the country. It's going to be a fun game to coach and a fun game to play in."
"We don't work towards losing. We want to win. We're not going to throw our second-best guy against [Connecticut's] best guy just to save him for a potential bigger game-two. We're going right after their guy. Anthony (Meo) thinks he's as good as their guy. They're going to come at us with their best and we're going to do the same. It's kind of like the Yankees throwing their best guy and the Red Sox throwing their best guy. We're going head-to-head. We'll see what happens."
On Connecticut's strengths:
"They have unbelievable talent. They're probably the fastest team we've seen from top to bottom. We haven't faced many guys with [Connecticut starter Matt] Barnes' ability when he's throwing 92-96 mph. It's going to be an interesting chess match as to who makes plays behind their pitcher. This game is going to come down to who gets a bunt down, who draws a walk, etc. I think the margin for winning an losing in that game is going to be pretty small."
Connecticut Head Coach Jim Penders
Opening statement:
"We have four really good teams in this regional, but we're just trying to look at Coastal Carolina right now. I look at them and I see a lot of similarities to us. I see a lot of team speed, some guys who throw strikes and know how to attack hitters, and we're similar offensively. They have a couple of guys in their lineup who can hurt you with their bats, but more guys who can hurt you with their legs. When you look at the teams that are here, it looks more like a track meet."
On Coastal Carolina Head Coach Gary Gilmore:
"He's always up in our turf. He does a great job finding some really good kids. Anthony Meo is a kid that we really went after, but Gary was able to sell it better, I guess. He's done a really good job of scouting the Northeast for some of the best talent up there. He's a first-class individual that's really built a top-notch program. It's tough to beat him on the recruiting trail, but hopefully we're going to have a good baseball game tomorrow."
On Matt Barnes:
"Barnes against [Coastal Carolina starter Anthony] Meo is going to be one great pitching matchup. It wasn't really that difficult of a decision to start Barnes in game-one. Our #2 guy (lefty Greg Nappo) does a great job with runners and he's a very good defender. Last year, we threw Greg in the first game against Oregon and he did a great job. We really could have gone with either one, but when you look at it and you have a guy like Matt, I didn't want to have to pull the trigger in an elimination game with him. Before we get any further in the tournament, we have to get through Coastal Carolina first. We wanted that one-versus-one match-up. We haven't been around the block enough to get 'cute' with it. Let's just go one-versus-one and see what happens."
On NCAA Tournament experience:
"We haven't been on the road in a regional since I played in 1994 when we went to Wichita State and played against guys like Jason Varitek and Nomar Garciaparra. It's been awhile since we've been on the road, but it's going to help us having been in the tournament last year. We're really going to know the structure and the way things work. Other than that, it's just another ballgame. There are 64 teams left and everyone's 0-0."
