CONWAY, S.C. – Coastal Carolina baseball will hit the road for just the second time this season for a three-game weekend series at West Virginia on March 19-21. The two teams will play the series opener on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. ET, while game two is slated for a 3 p.m. ET first pitch on Saturday. The Sunday series finale is set for a noon ET first pitch.
 
All three games will be video streamed live on ESPN+ and carried on the radio at WRNN Hot Talk 99.5 FM.
  • The Chanticleers received votes in two of the five nationally recognized polls this week.
• Coastal received votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll and the NCBWA Poll this week after receiving votes in three polls last week.
  • Coastal had its midweek game with NC State canceled due to COVID-19 issues within the NC State baseball program and thus will be hitting the field for the first time since last Sunday versus FIU (March 14).
• The Chants are 10-5 this season and have won two-straight games heading into play this weekend.
• The three-game series on the road this weekend for the Chants will be only the second time this season that Coastal has been on the road this season. CCU won a midweek game at Wake Forest on Feb. 23 in 12 innings.
• CCU's offense has hit 24 home runs this season and has driven in a total of 102 RBIs.
  • The Mountaineers are 7-5 overall this season and have won three-straight games heading into play this weekend versus the Chanticleers.
• WVU got off to a 4-3 start to the season, including going 2-1 in the CCU Baseball Tournament before COVID-19 paused their season to start the month of March.
• WVU is 3-2 at home this season with all five home games coming over the last week.
• The Mountaineers are led by two guys in Mikey Kluska and Victor Scott who are hitting .378 and .308 at the plate, respectively, and have combined for 22 of the Mountaineers' 64 RBIs this season.
• WVU's pitching staff has struck out 127 batters over 108.2 innings this season, an average of 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
  • Coastal Carolina holds a 10-4 advantage over West Virginia all-time.
• The Chanticleers have won each of the last three meetings between the two teams, including a 10-5 win this season back on Feb. 27 at the CCU Invitational.
• However, all 14 meetings between the Chants and West Virginia were played in South Carolina in either Conway or Myrtle Beach.
  • The Chanticleers will be playing just their third weekend series this weekend at West Virginia, as CCU hosted two multi-team tournaments in back-to-back weekends on Feb. 26-28 and March 5-8.
• CCU dropped its first series of the season 1-2 versus then-nationally ranked No. 16 Duke on Opening Weekend (Feb. 20-21) and then split last weekend's four-game series with FIU (March 12-14).
  • CCU sophomore left-handed pitcher Jonathan Blackwell is returning home to West Virginia, as he hails from Charleston, W.Va., and Hurricane High School.
  • Coastal Carolina is making just its second road trip this season and the first for a three-game weekend series.
• The Chanticleers' lone road game to date was a 4-1, 12-inning win at then-No. 16 Wake Forest on Feb. 23.
• In fact, it will be the Chanticleers' first time playing in the state of West Virginia since playing in the 1983 NAIA Area 7 Championships in Bluefield, W.Va.
• Starting this weekend at West Virginia, seven of the Chants' next scheduled eight games are on the road.
  • Coastal enjoyed #ThePalace for the first month of the season, as the Chanticleers played 14 of their first 15 games at home in Springs Brooks Stadium, finishing the stretch at 9-5.
• Last season, the Chants were 11-4 at home overall prior to the cancellation.
• In fact, CCU played just one road game last season, a loss at then-No. 7 NC State on March 4, 2020.
• Since the 2015 season, Coastal has recorded 20 wins or more at home each year, outside of last year's shortened season, and has tallied 142 wins at Springs Brooks Stadium counting this year.
  • Coastal Carolina sophomore Eric Brown has been on fire at the plate for the Chanticleers this season.
• The shortstop has hit safely in each of the last 12 games and has reached base safely in all 15 games this year.
• Brown leads the team in home runs (5), RBIs (15), and slugging percentage (.645).
  • The Chanticleers' weekend rotation this week will feature a new arm in redshirt junior Reid VanScoter.
• VanScoter, who earned the win out of the bullpen versus FIU on March 13, will be making his first career start as a Chant and his first start overall since his freshman year at Binghamton in 2018.
• The left-handed hurler is coming off 5.0-scoreless innings versus FIU, allowing just one hit and striking out five, to record his first collegiate win.
• On the season, VanScoter is 1-0 with a 2.03 ERA and eight strikeouts over 13.1 innings pitched.
• Junior Nick Parker (1-1, 3.92 ERA) will remain in the Saturday starting role this weekend and is coming off his first loss of the season, allowing two unearned runs on five hits and four walks over 5.0 innings versus FIU in game one on March 13.
• Making the move from Friday night starter to Sunday afternoon starter this weekend in West Virginia will be Jacob Maton (2-2, 4.34 ERA).
• Maton is coming off an outing in which he allowed a season-high five runs on five hits over 4.0 innings versus FIU on March 12.
  • The Chanticleers' pitching is trending upward entering play this weekend, as the pitching staff has allowed just one run over the last two games and full 19 innings after giving up four runs in the top of the eighth inning in the 7-4 loss to FIU in game one of the doubleheader last Saturday (March 13).
 
For complete coverage of CCU baseball, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalBaseball (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUsports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.