Five things to know about Coastal Carolina ahead of the Auburn baseball Super Regional
Five things to know about Coastal Carolina ahead of the Auburn baseball Super Regional Auburn is set to host one of the hottest teams in college baseball this weekend. Here's what to know about the Chanticleers.
Auburn baseball passed its first test of the NCAA Tournament last weekend by beating Coastal Carolina, Stetson, and NC State in the Auburn Regional. This weekend, the Tigers will host its first-ever Super Regional at Plainsman Park against one of the hottest teams in college baseball, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.
Coastal Carolina was one of two teams from the Sun Belt Conference to host a regional last weekend, joining Southern Miss. Unlike the Golden Eagles, the Chanticleers emerged victorious from its regional by defeating Fairfield in game one, and closed the weekend by beating East Carolina twice.
Chants first baseman Colby Thorndyke won the regional's MVP award after recording seven RBI on five hits over the weekend, with his most notable game coming against ECU in Saturday's winner's bracket game where he went 4-for-5 with six RBI, four coming from a grand slam in the 7th inning.
What else is there to know about the Chanticleers? Here are five quick facts about Auburn baseball's super regional opponent.
Coastal Carolina is the last mid-major team to win the College World Series
Coastal Carolina has made just one appearance in the College World Series, and the result could not have been better. The Chanticleers earned a seat at the 2016 College World Series championship series by winning three games in the loser's bracket, and went on to beat Arizona in the three-game series, 2-1. Coastal punched their tickets to Omaha by upsetting NC State in the Raleigh Regional and sweeping LSU in the Baton Rouge Super Regional.
Coastal Carolina holds an impressive win streak
The Chanticleers are one of the hottest teams in college baseball. Coastal carries a 21-game winning streak into this weekend's super regional, a streak that began on April 25 with an 11-inning win over Sun Belt rival James Madison in Virginia. In that span, the Chanticleers have beaten NCAA Regional hosts Clemson and Southern Miss, and swept the competition at last weekend's Conway Regional by beating Fairfield and East Carolina twice.
Coastal Carolina will keep the Auburn defense on its toes
As expected, the Chanticleers rank near the top in every major offensive category in the Sun Belt Conference. However, there is one stat that sets them apart from the rest of their home league. Coastal Carolina baserunners have stolen 106 bases this season, seven more than the second-place team, Louisiana. Sebastian Alexander and Wells Sykes rank in the Sun Belt's top in the category with 27 and 17 respectively.
Cameron Flukey and Jacob Morrison will challenge the Auburn lineup
Coastal Carolina has a pair of right-handed starting pitchers that will challenge the Tigers' bats. Cameron Flukey and Jacob Morrison rank in the top-five of several major Sun Belt categories including ERA, OBA, innings pitched, and strikeouts. The duo combined to strikeout 14 batters in last week's Conway Regional, with Flukey's nine strikeout, seven-inning start in the Chanticleers regional opener against Fairfield setting the tone for the weekend.
Flukey, Morrison, and third-place starter Riley Eikhoff boast sub-3.20 ERAs and have combined to strikeout 254 batters while allowing just 16 home runs.
Coastal Carolina has the highest win total among remaining Super Regional squads
There is only one team remaining in the 2025 NCAA Tournament with over 50 wins, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. The Chants are 51-11 entering the weekend, and ranks No. 7 in the RPI according to D1Baseball. Coastal is a combined 16-9 against teams in quad-1 and quad-2.
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