CONWAY, S.C. – Following a five-game road trip, the No. 17 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers will return home to host the Georgia Southern Eagles in Sun Belt Conference play on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, April 6-8, at Springs Brooks Stadium.
  Thursday, April 6
6 p.m. ET – GS - RHP Ben Johnson (4-2, 6.68 ERA) vs. CCU - RHP Jacob Morrison (3-0, 6.42 ERA)
 
Friday, April 7
6 p.m. ET – GS - LHP Ty Fisher (2-3, 4.39 ERA) vs. CCU - RHP Matthew Potok (2-0, 3.38 ERA)
 
Saturday, April 8
1 p.m. ET – GS - RHP Ga'von Wray (1-1, 6.43 ERA) vs. CCU - RHP Jack Billings (1-0, 2.03 ERA)
  • Coastal Carolina is 18-8 overall this season and 7-2 in Sun Belt Conference play.
• CCU has won four of its last five games and is coming off a 3-0 series sweep over Georgia State Panthers in Sun Belt play last weekend in Atlanta, Ga.
• The Chanticleers, who are 12-5 at home inside Springs Brooks Stadium this year, will host Georgia Southern for three games this week before returning to the road for another five-game swing next week.
• In the Chants' 18 wins this season, they have scored double-digit runs in 15 of them and are averaging 13.1 runs per game over their 18 victories to date.
• As a team, the Chants are hitting .329 overall, which leads the Sun Belt and ranks sixth in all of NCAA Division I baseball, as 11 different players are hitting over .300 on the season.
• The offense is also first in the Sun Belt and ranks third nationally in scoring (10.4), seventh in on-base percentage (.440), seventh in hit-by-pitch (68), and ninth in doubles (70).
• CCU's pitching staff has struck out 281 batters compared to just 128 walks on the year and leads the Sun Belt with an average of 11.0 strikeouts per nine innings, which ranks 14th nationally.
  • Georgia Southern enters the week at 14-15 overall and 5-4 in conference play.
• The Eagles are coming off a 13-7 road loss at Georgia Tech (April 4) and have dropped five of their last eight games.
• GS is 5-4 on the road this season with wins at UCF (March 4 & 5), Mercer (March 22), Southern Miss (March 25), and Georgia (March 29).
• Offensively, the Eagles are in the middle of the pack in the Sun Belt, hitting .284 as a team with 30 home runs, six triples, 42 doubles, 193 RBIs, and 215 runs.
• The GS pitchers lead the league with 59 hit batters and have issued 123 walks this season over 254.1 innings pitched.
• The Eagles have used 18 pitchers this season, with 10 different pitchers having recorded at least one win on the year, led by Ben Johnson's four victories.
  • Coastal trails Georgia Southern 21-20 in the all-time series with the two teams first meeting back in 1976.
• The Chants are just 7-8 versus the Eagles at home in Conway, S.C., which includes a 9-7 win in the championship game of the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship Tournament.
• Since the two teams became conference foes in 2017, the Chants are just 7-8 versus the Eagles in Sun Belt Conference regular-season play.
  • 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 last week.
• This week, the Chants are in all six polls - No. 17 (D1Baseball), No. 20 (Perfect Game), No. 20 (NCBWA), No. 21 (USA TODAY Sports coaches poll), No. 22 (Baseball America), and No. 27 (Collegiate Baseball).
  • Coastal has played 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), and No. 13 North Carolina (March 28).
• The Chanticleers are 3-1 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 12-9 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.
  • The Chanticleers' three-game series this week with Georgia Southern will be the only three home games for the Men in Teal over a three-week span.
• Coastal is coming off five consecutive road games over the past two weeks.
• The five-game road swing, which is tied for the longest of the season for the Chants, included stops at North Carolina (March 28), Georgia State (March 31-April 2), and Clemson (April 4).
• Coastal went 4-1 on the previous road trip, which includes three come-from-behind wins.
• However, after the three home games versus the GS Eagles, the Chants will return to the road for another five-game road trip with two games at Campbell (April 10-11) and three at Old Dominion (April 14-16).
  • 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.
• Since Coastal joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2017, the Chants have posted a record of 133-62-2 (68 percent) at home at Springs Brooks Stadium.
  • CCU has not been nice to its visiting Sun Belt Conference members in regular-season play at Spring Brooks Stadium since joining the league in 2017.
• Coastal is 43-24-2 in Sun Belt regular-season games at home inside Springs Brooks Stadium (aka #ThePalace).
• Since joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2017, the Chants have won 14 of 23 conference series at home in Conway, S.C., which includes eight three-game sweeps.
• Oddly enough, the Chants have also tied two home series at 1-1-1 (Louisiana in 2017 and ULM in 2022) and thus have only lost seven home conference series as members of the Sun Belt.
 
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