GAME INFORMATION
2 COASTAL CAROLINA	3 NORTHERN ILLINOIS
OVERALL: 37-21	OVERALL: 35-17
SBC: 21-9	MAC: 21-12
HC: Kevin Schnall	HC: Ryan Copeland
REC (YR): 93-34 (2nd)	REC (YR): 77-83 (3rd)

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Wednesday: CCU RHP #25 Ross Norman vs. UL LHP #30 Max Vaisvila

SCENE SETTER
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Coastal Carolina will make its 22nd NCAA Regional appearance after earning an at-large bid to the Tallahassee Regional, hosted by No. 10 national seed Florida State University, which will be played at Dick Howser Stadium.The Chanticleers, who finished second in the Sun Belt Conference, earned the No. 2 seed and will play No. 3 seed Northern Illinois in the first round on Friday, May 29, at 8 p.m. No. 1 seed and host Florida State (38-17) will face No. 4 seed St. John's (33-24) in the other opening-round game.

STREAKS, STORYLINES, SIDEBARS

A POSTSEASON REGULAR: The Chanticleers have earned an NCAA Regional berth in 21 of the last 25 NCAA Tournaments contested (excluding the canceled 2020 season). They have received 14 automatic bids and seven at-large selections (2005, '13, '15, '22, '23, '24, '26).. This is the Chanticleers' fifth consecutive regional appearance (2022, '23, '24, '25, '26).  

BACK IT WHERE IT ALL STARTED: Coastal is making its first appearance at the Tallahassee Regional in 64-team era. The Chants made their first NCAA tournament appearance in 1991 in Tallahassee in the Atlantic Regional.

VERSUS THE REGION: Friday's game will mark the Chanticleers' first-ever meeting with Northern Illinois, the champion of the Mid-American Conference. Coastal last played St. John's in 2017, hosting the Red Storm as part of the season-opening Baseball at the Beach tournament. The Chants are 4-3 all-time against the BIG EAST champion. It has been 11 years since the Chanticleers last faced Florida State, which leads the all-time series 13-1. Coastal's lone win in the series came in its most recent meeting with the Seminoles, a 4-2 victory on May 3, 2015, in Tallahassee.

MAGIC NUMBER: In the last two seasons under coach Kevin Schnall, the Chanticleers are 73-5 (.935) when scoring six or more runs and 19-29 (.395) when scoring five runs or less. Coastak is 28-3 this season when scoring at least a half dozen runs.

ROAD WINNERS: The Chanticleers have one of the top winning road percentages in college baseball this season at 63.7 percent with a 14-8 record. CCU is one of 12 teams outside the "Power 4" to have won more than 63 percent of its road games (minimum 15 games played). Coastal's road resume includes wins over NCAA Tournament participants Louisiana, North Carolina, and The Citadel. CCU is 2-2 versus ACC opponents on the road this season with wins at UNC and Clemson, with losses at NC State and Wake Forest.

SCHNALL BALL: With 68 sacrifice hits this season, Schnall Ball has become a catchy term at Coastal Carolina, which leads the Sun Belt in the category and ranks third nationally. Five players have nine or more sacrifice hits this season, led by senior Blake Barthol's 18; one off the NCAA lead. Ty Barrango has laid down 10 sacrifice bunts while Brice Estep, Walker Mitchell and Colby Thorndyke have nine each. The last time Coastal collected more than 60 sacrifice bunts in a season was 2016, 78. Last season, the Chanticleers tallied 57 sacrifice hits. Barthol's 18 sacrifice hits are tied for the fifth-most in a single season. He needs two more to move into a four-way for second-place on the school's career list.

OUCH: The Chants lead the Sun Belt Conference and rank third in the NCAA with 135 hit by pitches. Walker Mitchell and Blagen Pado have each been hit 19 times to lead the way individually for the Chants. At least one Coastal batter has been hit by a pitch in 27 of the last 28 games, and 53 of 58 games this season..

YOUTHFUL ARMS: CCU freshmen and sophomores combined to throw 292.2 of 501.2 innings this season (.582). The freshman five-some of Case Bosch,  Kellen Karr, Daniel Parker, Colby Richardson and Jackson Smallets combined for 150.2 innings while the sophomore trio of Jaxon Appelman, Scott Doran and Luke Jones combined for 142 innings.