CONWAY, S.C. – The No. 17 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers will continue its current five-game road trip this weekend with their first visit to Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., for a pivotal Sun Belt Conference three-game series at Bud Metheny Baseball Stadium.
 
The two teams will play Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 14-16.
  Friday, April 14
6 p.m. ET – ODU - LHP Blake Morgan (3-3, 5.08 ERA) vs. CCU - RHP Matthew Potok (2-1, 4.30 ERA)
 
Saturday, April 15
4 p.m. ET – ODU - RHP Sam Armstrong (6-0, 2.98 ERA) vs. CCU - RHP Jacob Morrison (4-0, 5.59 ERA)
 
Sunday, April 16
1 p.m. ET – ODU - TBA vs. CCU - TBA
  • Coastal Carolina is 21-10 overall this season and 9-3 in Sun Belt Conference play.
• CCU has won seven of its last 10 games and is coming off a 5-3 road win over the No. 14 Campbell Fighting Camels on Tuesday (April 11).
• The Chanticleers are in the middle of their second five-game road swing in the last three weeks with back-to-back games at Campbell (April 10 & 11) and three games at Old Dominion (April 14-16).
• CCU went 4-1 on the last five-game swing, with a midweek road win at North Carolina (March 28) and three wins in Sun Belt play at Georgia State (March 31-April 2).
• As a team, the Chants are hitting .319 overall, which leads the Sun Belt and ranks ninth nationally, as nine different players are hitting over .300 on the season.
• The offense is also first in the Sun Belt in runs (307), doubles (83), hits (352), RBIs (278), hit-by-pitch (72), and on-base percentage (.424).
• CCU's pitching staff has struck out 338 batters compared to just 157 walks on the year and leads the Sun Belt with an average of 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings.
  • Old Dominion enters the weekend at 23-9 overall and 8-4 in conference play.
• The Monarchs have dropped each of their last two games, including a 7-3 loss at No. 9 East Carolina in midweek action on Tuesday (April 11).
• ODU has been stellar at home this season, as the Monarchs are 16-5 at Bud Metheny Baseball Stadium this year.
• Offensively, the Monarchs are hitting .311 on the team as a season and are tied with Coastal for the most hits in the Sun Belt with 352 on the year.
• The Monarchs have nine different players hitting over .300 on the season and three players in Hunter Fitz-Gerald (13), Jake Ticer (12), and Camden Grimes (11) with double-digit home runs.
• ODU's pitching staff has posted a 4.15 ERA on the season, which leads the Sun Belt. They also lead the Sun Belt Conference in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 2.36 with 278 strikeouts and just 118 walks allowed.
  • Old Dominion leads the Chanticleers in the all-time series at 4-3.
• The Chanticleers have won each of the last two meetings - 2007 and 2015 - the lone two meetings since 1995.
• This weekend will be the first time the Chanticleers have played the Monarchs on their home field in Norfolk, Va., as all seven meetings in the all-time series have come in Conway, S.C.
• This weekend will also mark the first time these two teams will meet as conference foes, as ODU joined the Sun Belt Conference in July 2022.
  • For the first time this season, the Chanticleers were ranked in a national top-25 poll on March 27.
• Coastal came in at No. 19 in the D1Baseball Top 25 Rankings and at No. 28 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) NCAA Division I poll in that poll on March 27.
• Since then, the Chants have been in at least one national poll in each of the last three weeks.
• In the most recent polls that came out on April 10, the Chants were in all six polls - No. 17 (D1Baseball), No. 18 (NCBWA), No. 18 (Baseball America), No. 20 (Perfect Game), No. 21 (USA TODAY Sports coaches poll), and No. 29 (Collegiate Baseball).
• Since being ranked, the Chanticleers have gone 7-3 overall.
  • Although it is early in the conference season, there is a lot on the line in the weekend series between Coastal Carolina and Old Dominion this weekend, April 14-16.
• Coastal sits at 9-3 in conference play and in a first-place tie with Louisiana.
• Old Dominion is 8-4 in league play and just one game behind both Coastal and Louisiana in the regular-season standings.
• Both teams are only a few games ahead of Southern Miss (7-5) in fourth place and Appalachian State (6-5) in fifth.
  • Old Dominion is one of four new members of the Sun Belt Conference that joined the league in July 2022.
• This weekend will mark the first time Coastal Carolina and Old Dominion will meet on the baseball diamond as conference foes.
• Coastal is 2-1 this season against the new conference members, having taken two of three games on the road at James Madison (March 17-19).
• The Chanticleers will play the other two new conference foes - Southern Miss (April 21-23) and Marshall (May 18-20) - at home later this season.
  • Coastal Carolina and Old Dominion have the top-two offenses in the Sun Belt entering play this weekend.
• The Chants and Monarchs are tied for the league lead in hits with 352.
• Coastal leads the Sun Belt in batting average (.319), runs (307), doubles (83), RBIs (278), hit-by-pitch (72), and in on-base percentage (.424). CCU is also second in slugging percentage (.554) and in sacrifice flies (22).
• Old Dominion leads the Sun Belt in triples (14), walks (185), and slugging percentage (.555). The Monarchs are second in batting average (.311), runs (296), home runs (63), RBIs (272), and in on-base percentage (.419).
  • Coastal outfielder Graham Brown is the reigning Sun Belt Conference Baseball Player of the Week, earning that weekly conference award on April 11.
• Brown was also one of 15 NCAA Division I baseball student-athletes named a Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week powered by Diamond Sports for his play last week (April 10).
• Brown was nearly impossible to get out over the Chants' four games last week, as he hit .563 (9-for-16) with a home run, five doubles, five RBIs, five runs, a 1.063 slugging percentage, and an on-base percentage of .563.
• He had four multi-hit games, hitting safely in all four games, and had at least one extra-base hit in all four contests.
  • The Chants kicked off a five-game road swing on Monday and Tuesday at Campbell in Buies Creek, N.C.
• The five-game road trip will see the Chants play two games at Campbell (April 10 & 11) and three games at Old Dominion (April 14-16).
• Coastal had a five-game road trip just a week ago from March 28 to April 4, going 4-1 on the trip with a midweek win at then-No. 13 North Carolina (March 28) and a three-game series sweep at Georgia State (March 31-April 2) in Atlanta, Ga.
• Breaking up the two five-game road swings for the Chanticleers was a three-game series at home with Georgia Southern (April 6 & 7) in Sun Belt Conference play.
• The two five-game road swings are the longest of the season for the Chants, who will have played 10 road games in a span of three weeks.
  • This season, the Chanticleers have played one of the toughest schedules in all of NCAA Division I.
• The Chants have the sixth-toughest schedule in all of NCAA Division I baseball to date according to the NCAA (April 13).
        Past Opponents Record: 567-337-0 (.627)
        Future Opponents Record: 453-304-0 (.598)
        Cumulative Records: 1020-641-0 (.614)
            • Coastal has played six games against four nationally-ranked top-25 teams so far this season in No. 21 NC State (Feb. 22), No. 2/5 Wake Forest (March 7), No. 19 Campbell (March 14), No. 13 North Carolina (March 28), and then again versus No. 14 Campbell (April 10 & 11).
• The Chanticleers are 4-2 versus top 25 ranked teams this season.
• Coastal suffered a 16-5 midweek home loss to then-No. 21 NC State on Feb. 22 at Springs Brooks Stadium, but since then has won each of its last three games versus ranked foes.
• CCU won a wild one by the score of 13-11 in a midweek home contest versus then-No. 2/5 Wake Forest on March 7 at Springs Brooks Stadium.
• The Chants outslugged then-No. 19 Campbell in a 12-9 win on March 14 in a game that saw a combined seven home runs leave the ballpark.
• The Chanticleers scored eight runs in the top of the eighth inning to record a 12-7 come-from-behind win on the road at No. 13 North Carolina in midweek action on March 28.
• CCU split back-to-back midweek road games at No. 14 Campbell (April 10 & 11), falling 9-4 on Monday before taking the season series with a 5-3 win on Tuesday.
  • Last season in conference play, the Chants felt right at home when playing on the road.
• In 2022, CCU went 12-3 overall on the road in Sun Belt Conference play, winning four of the five conference road series on the year.
• Coastal recorded three sweeps on the road in conference play, winning all three games at Arkansas State (April 1-3), at Appalachian State (April 14-16), and at Troy (May 13-15).
• So far this year, the Chants have gone 5-1 in conference play on the road with a series win at new conference member James Madison (March 17-19) on the opening weekend of conference play and a 3-0 sweep of Georgia State (March 31-April 2).
 
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