Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Final '07 Rank: 23 50-13

Coach Gary Gilmore’s Coastal Carolina Chanticleers have quietly become one of the premier teams in the nation. The Chants went 50-13 last year, the second time in three years they’ve won fifty games, and captured both the Big South regular-season and tournament titles. Their record would have been even more impressive if it weren’t for a streak of four games in a row when they lost by a single run. Coastal’s regular season earned them the opportunity to host the Myrtle Beach Regional where they appeared to be in good position for a Super Regional. The Chanticleers earned victories over VCU and St. John’s, but lost a pair of contests to Clemson to end their season. The ’07 edition of the team had a number of seniors whose contributions will be greatly missed in ’08: slugger Chris Raber (.317, 17, 58), catcher Matt Rademacher (.340, 7, 40) and pitchers Andy DeLaGarza (3.51, 9-2) and John Mariotti (4.35, 8-0) have all left big shoes to fill. However a ton of talent remains and should have Coastal once again contending for their first bid to the College World Series.

Last year Coastal ranked nationally in the top twenty in batting average (.321, 12th), home runs per game (1.17, 20th) and slugging percentage (.495, 10th) and should once again have little difficulty scoring runs. Senior outfielder Tommy Baldridge led the Chants in batting, pinging the ball at an impressive .383 clip. He also lifted 13 balls over the wall and knocked in a team leading 58 runs. Baldridge was named to the Big South All-Conference team, joined in the outfield by junior David Sappelt. Sappelt batted .359 and amassed 34 extra basehits to the tune of 17 doubles, 7 triples and 10 homeruns. Dual threat P/DH/1B David Anderson will also be back at CCU and can win games with his bat or arm. Anderson hit .301 with six homeruns and 23 RBI in limited at bats, while also contributing a 3.36 ERA, 67 innings pitched and 10 saves in 29 pitching appearances. Catcher Dock Doyle was named to the All-Star Games of the Great Lakes over the summer after batting .310 batting average in the regular season. Senior third baseman Derek Martin was able to increase his batting average nearly seventy points last season, raising it from .238 to .304. Coastal’s shortshop Tyler Bortnick will likely reach double digit homeruns this season after hitting six in ’07 with a .269 batting average.

CCU’s Bobby Gagg’s 12 spring wins tied him for seventh nationally and his 2.57 ERA finished him at fifty-first in the country. Another pair of notable numbers generated by Gagg were his 84 strikeouts compared to just 27 walks in 112 innings pitched. He continued to impress over the summer, going 3-0 with a 2.64 ERA in the Cape Cod League. Sophomore Nick McCully had an outstanding freshman season, serving as both a midweek starter and a closer. McCully went 7-3 with a 3.48 earned-run average and was just as impressive pitching for North Adams of the New England Collegiate League. He went 4-1 with a 2.15 ERA, struck out 45 batters in 50.1 innings and even threw a no-hitter. Another pair of pitchers who give the Chanticleers depth are Kent Altman and Joey Haug. Altman appeared in 17 games in relief, winning two games and saving another. His uncanny control allowed free passes to only three batsman in 30.2 innings pitched and earned him an end of the year 2.64 ERA. A transfer from Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City, MO, Haug took the hill in 19 games, winning a game in relief, and finished with a 3.65 ERA. The senior had a 1.20 ERA and set the Peninsula Oilers’ record for apperances over the summer with 21.