CONWAY, S.C. – The No. 8/10 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers will host the No. 23/24 Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles in a top-25 showdown this weekend, April 21-23, in Sun Belt Conference play. The Chanticleers and Golden Eagles are scheduled to play Friday at 6 p.m. ET, Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, and Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
  Friday, April 21
6 p.m. ET – USM - RHP Tanner Hall (7-2, 2.29 ERA) vs. CCU - RHP Matthew Potok (2-2, 5.67 ERA)
 
Saturday, April 22
2 p.m. ET – USM - RHP Billy Oldham (3-1, 3.60 ERA) vs. CCU - RHP Jacob Morrison (5-0, 4.73 ERA)
 
Sunday, April 23
1 p.m. ET – USM - TBA vs. CCU - RHP Jack Billings (1-0, 3.38 ERA)
  • Coastal Carolina is 24-11 overall and 11-4 in Sun Belt Conference play this year.
• Coastal sits alone atop the Sun Belt Conference regular-season standings at 11-4, one game in front of both Southern Miss (10-5) and Louisiana (10-5).
• CCU has won 10 of its last 14 games and is coming off a 2-1 series sweep on the road at Old Dominion last weekend (April 14-16) and a 12-4 midweek home win over the College of Charleston on Wednesday (April 19).
• The Chants are 15-6 at home this season, including 4-2 in Sun Belt Conference play with a pair of 2-1 series wins versus Texas State (March 24-25) and Georgia Southern (April 6-7).
• As a team, the Chants are hitting .318 overall, which leads the Sun Belt and ranks 10th nationally, as nine different players are hitting over .300 on the season.
• The offense leads the conference in seven offensive statistical categories - runs (343), scoring (9.8), batting average (.318), on-base percentage (.425), slugging percentage (.561), doubles (91), and hit-by-pitch (81).
• CCU's pitching staff has struck out 393 batters compared to just 174 walks on the year and leads the Sun Belt with an average of 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings, which also ranks sixth nationally.
  • Southern Miss heads to Conway, S.C., this weekend at 22-13 overall and 10-5 in its first year in Sun Belt Conference play.
• The Golden Eagles are tied for second place with Louisiana in the conference regular-season standings, one game behind the Chanticleers.
• Southern Miss is coming off a 3-1 loss on the road in midweek play at Louisiana Tech (April 18) after sweeping James Madison in a three-game home conference series last weekend (April 14-16).
• The Golden Eagles' offense is hitting just .263 on the season, which ranks 13th in the Sun Belt, while their 220 runs on the year rank just 11th overall in the league.
• However, the Golden Eagles' pitching has carried them this season, as the pitching staff has posted a 4.60 ERA, which ranks third in the Sun Belt, and held their opponents to a .239 average on the year.
• The USM pitchers also rank third in the SBC in strikeouts per nine innings (10.0) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.30), and second in hits allowed per nine innings (7.99).
  • The pivotal Sun Belt Conference three-game series this weekend between Coastal Carolina and Southern Miss will mark the first-ever meeting between the two teams on the baseball diamond.
  • 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 four weeks.
• In the most recent polls that came out on April 17, the Chants were in all six polls - No. 8 (Baseball America), No. 10 (D1Baseball), No. 13 (USA TODAY Sports coaches poll), No. 13 (NCBWA), No. 16 (Perfect Game), and No. 29 (Collegiate Baseball).
• Coastal's No. 8 ranking by Baseball America and No. 10 ranking by D1Baseball marks the first time the Chants have been in the top 10 in a national top-25 poll since being ranked as high as No. 10 twice by Collegiate Baseball News in 2019 and No. 9 overall in the USA Today SPORTS Preseason Coaches Poll in 2017.
• Since being ranked, the Chanticleers have gone 10-4 overall.
  • For the first time in two years, the Chanticleers will host a top-25 showdown this weekend versus Southern Miss (April 21-23).
• The Chanticleers enter the weekend ranked as high as No. 8 by Baseball American and No. 10 by D1Baseball, while the Golden Eagles are ranked No. 23 by Perfect Game and No. 24 by D1Baseball.
• The last time the Chants hosted a top-25 showdown at Springs Brooks Stadium was the Opening Weekend of 2021 (Feb. 20-21), as the Chanticleers were ranked No. 23 Collegiate Baseball and hosted No. 16 Duke in a three-game series.
  • 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.
  • The pivotal three-game conference series between the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers and Southern Miss Golden Eagles will feature one of the top offenses versus the top pitching staffs in the Sun Belt.
• The Coastal offense leads the conference in seven offensive statistical categories - runs (343), scoring (9.8), batting average (.318), on-base percentage (.425), slugging percentage (.561), doubles (91), and hit-by-pitch (81).
• The Southern Miss pitching staff has posted a 4.60 ERA, which ranks third in the Sun Belt, and held their opponents to a .239 average on the year. The USM pitchers also rank third in the SBC in strikeouts per nine innings (10.0) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.30), and second in hits allowed per nine innings (7.99).
  • This season, Coastal is scheduled to play 34 home games versus teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big East, Conference USA, Atlantic 10, and the new look Sun Belt Conference.
• In fact, 14 of the Chants' first 15 games came at home at "The Palace" to start the season.
• Since 2000, the Chants have recorded 20 wins or more at home in all but four years, one of which was the shortened 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• This season, the Chants are 15-6 overall at home.
• Since Coastal joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2017, the Chants have posted a record of 136-63-2 (68.2 percent) at home at Springs Brooks Stadium.
  • Southern Miss is one of four new members of the Sun Belt Conference that joined the league in July 2022.
• This weekend (April 21-23) will mark the first time Coastal Carolina and Southern Miss will meet on the baseball diamond.
• Coastal is 4-2 this season against the new conference members, having taken two of three games on the road at both James Madison (March 17-19) and Old Dominion (April 14-16).
• The Chanticleers will play the fourth new conference foe Marshall (May 18-20) at home later this season.
 
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