Coastal Carolina: standard bearer for the Sun Belt, how they got here, playing for a Natty

By Doug Kyle

There’s been some banter back and forth the end of the week at the Men's College World Series in Omaha about Coastal Carolina, where they are and how they got to this point, about to play for their second national championship in college baseball.

With College Baseball Central being a national outlet that published weekly reports on the Sun Belt Conference, we need only look back at them to chart the path of the Chanticleers, which was not a wire-to-wire run, starting a bit slowly before hitting the well-known-by-now win streak in late April.

We’ll also encore our Conway Regional preview profile before citing the postseason scores up to this point.

From early non-conference play to the MCWS, here’s how CCU fared:

WEEK 1

Coastal Carolina 3-0— beat Saint Joseph’s 11-1 (7), beat Kansas State 8-3, beat Washington 11-1 (7). Looking ahead: 2/18 vs. College of Charleston, 2/21-2/23 vs. Alabama, Ohio State, and NC State at Jacksonville, FL

WEEK 2

Coastal Carolina 6-2— lost to College of Charleston 15-5 (8), lost to Alabama 9-2, beat Ohio State 10-8 (11), beat NC State 10-3. Looking ahead: 2/25 vs. UNCW, 2/28-3/2 vs. Rutgers

WEEK 3

Coastal Carolina 10-2— beat UNCW 6-1, Swept Rutgers 10-0 (7), 6-5, 6-1. Looking ahead: 3/4 at UNC, 3/7-3/9 at ECU

WEEK 4

Coastal Carolina 12-4— Lost to UNC 5-4 (11), won two out of three against ECU 0-7, 9-1, 4-3 (10). Looking ahead: 3/11 vs. Wake Forest, 3/14-3/16 vs. Georgia Southern (SBC)

WEEK 5 (Sun Belt Conference play begins, 1st)

Coastal Carolina 3-0, 15-5 overall— Lost to Wake Forest 16-6, swept Georgia Southern 5-1, 7-2, 11-1 (7). Looking ahead: 3/18 at Campbell, 3/21-3/23 at Troy (SBC)

WEEK 6 (SBC 3rd)

Coastal Carolina 4-2, 17-8 overall— Beat Campbell 5-4, won one out of three against Troy 11-3, 8-9, 5-9. Looking ahead: 3/25 at Clemson, 3/28-3/30 at Texas State (SBC)

WEEK 7 (SBC 2nd)

Coastal Carolina 6-3, 20-8 overall— Beat Clemson 8-2, won two out of three against Texas State 7-0, 0-1, 10-3. Looking ahead: 4/1 vs. Campbell, 4/4-4/6 vs. Arkansas State (SBC)

WEEK 8 (SBC 1st tie)

Coastal Carolina 8-4, 23-9 overall— Beat Campbell 15-1 (7), won two out of three against Arkansas State 4-1, 4-1, 0-2. Looking ahead: 4/8 at UNCW, 4/11-4/13 at Georgia State (SBC)

WEEK 9 (SBC 1st)

Coastal Carolina 11-4, 27-9 overall— Beat UNCW 8-4, swept Georgia State 6-5, 14-8, 4-2. Looking ahead: 4/15 at Wake Forest, 4/17-4/19 vs. Marshall (SBC)

WEEK 10 (SBC 1st)

Coastal Carolina 14-4, 30-10 overall— Lost to Wake Forest 16-5 (8), swept Marshall 11-1 (7), 10-0 (7), 13-5. Looking ahead: 4/22 at College of Charleston, 4/25-4/27 at James Madison (SBC)

WEEK 11 (SBC 1st)

Coastal Carolina 17-4, 33-11 overall— Lost to College of Charleston 4-2, swept James Madison 9-2 (11), 14-4 (7), 8-4. Looking ahead: 4/29 at UNCG, 5/2-5/5 vs. App State (SBC)

WEEK 12 (SBC 1st)

Coastal Carolina 20-4, 37-11 overall— Beat UNCG 8-2, swept App State 11-1 (8), 6-2, 10-1. Looking ahead: 5/6 vs. Clemson, 5/8-5/10 vs. Louisiana Monroe/ULM (SBC)

WEEK 13 (SBC 1st)

Coastal Carolina 23-4, 41-11 overall— Beat Clemson 5-3, swept ULM/Louisiana Monroe 8-6, 10-0 (7), 4-0 (5, weather). Looking ahead: 5/15-5/17 at Old Dominion (SBC)

WEEK 14 (SBC regular season ends, 1st)

Coastal Carolina 26-4, 44-11 overall— Swept Ole Dominion 6-3. 16-7, 12-1 (7). Looking ahead: 5/21 vs. TBD at Montgomery, AL (SBC Tournament)

WEEK 15 (SBC Tournament)

Coastal Carolina 26-4, 48-11 overall— Beat Georgia Southern 8-1, beat Marshall twice 4-2, 6-1, beat Southern Miss 7-5

WEEK 16 (Conway Regional, College Baseball Central profile)

Host: Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (Springs Brooks Stadium/Vrooman Field)

1. Coastal Carolina (48-11, 26-4 Sun Belt Conference)

2. Florida (38-20, 15-15 Southeastern Conference)

3. East Carolina (33-25, 13-14 American Conference)

4. Fairfield (39-17, 21-8 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)

#1 Coastal Carolina

RPI* 8  SOS 66  Record vs Q1: 5-5 Q2: 10-4

Coastal Carolina became a household name in college baseball following the 2016 season, after the Chanticleers outlasted Arizona in a rain-plagued and postponement-delayed Men’s College World Series championship series, winning two one-run games, 5-4 and 4-3, after dropping the opener to the Wildcats 3-0.

The team was led by Head Coach Gary Gilmore, who retired last season after more than 1100 victories and turned the team over to Associate Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator Kevin Schnall.

When the NCAA baseball committee awarded a tournament bid and 3-seed to Coastal over at least one higher-finishing Sun Belt school, some critics cited it as a sentimental move. But, Gilmore’s team went into the Clemson Regional and defeated 2-seed Vanderbilt and 4-seed High Point before bowing to the host Tigers in the regional final.

There is always a touch of uncertainty when the 29-year reins are handed to a new head coach, but Coastal has picked up nicely from the Gilmore legacy in 2025. They haven’t led wire to wire in the SBC race, swapping frontrunner spots a time or two with SBC runner-up (regular season and tournament) Southern Miss and third-place Troy.

But, like some Rocky-Apollo battles, the stretch run was a thing of college baseball beauty to behold, as USM went into an 18-game winning streak trying to overtake Coastal, eventually fended off by the Chanticleers, who won their 18th straight themselves with a 7-5 win in the Sun Belt tournament championship. Both teams were deemed worthy of hosting a regional by this year’s committee.

The Coastal pitching is led by a trio of starters, Jacob Morrison (11-0, 1.90 ERA), Cameron Flukey (6-1, 3.16 ERA), and Riley Eikhoff (6-2, 3.19 ERA), plus a trio of closers, Ryan Lynch (2-1, 0.61 ERA, 7 saves), Dominick Carbone (5-0, 2.36, 5 saves), and Scott Doran (1-0, 4.15 ERA, 2 saves).

Hitting .288 as a team, Coastal has four regulars batting .300 or better, Caden Bodine (.333, 36 RBI, 3 HR), Dean Mihos (.320, 18 RBI, 2 HRs), Colby Thorndyke (.308, 33 RBI, 1 HR), and Sebastian Alexander (.301, 47 RBI, 9 HR). Their leading power hitter is Blake Barthol (.282, 49 RBI, 12 HRs).

How Coastal Carolina wins the regional: the winning streak turns legal at 21, the win total turns middle aged at 51, and a solid and deep host is challenged but withstands two hot opponents.

Coastal Carolina 26-4, 51-11 overall— Beat Fairfield 10-2, beat East Carolina twice 18-7, 1-0

WEEK 17 (Auburn Super Regional)

Coastal Carolina 26-4, 53-11 overall— Beat Auburn twice 7-6, 4-1

WEEK 18 (Men’s College World Series, Bracket 1)

Coastal Carolina 26-4, 56-11 overall— Beat Arizona 7-4, beat Oregon State 6-2, beat Louisville 11-3

WEEK 19 (Men’s College World Series, Championship Finals)

Vs. LSU June 21 (6:00 pm CDT), June 22 (1:30 pm CDT), June 23 (if necessary, 6:30 CDT)

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