MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) – The field of 64 is set for the NCAA Baseball Tournament. Defending National Champion Coastal Carolina did not earn an at-large bid.
The Chants finished the season with a 37-19-1 record. Only one Sun Belt team made the tournament, conference champion South Alabama. It’s just the second time in the last 11 years that Coastal has missed the tournament.
“You know we’ve been in the thing a lot more than we haven’t,” Coach Gary Gilmore said. “I challenged the guys that are coming back, you know every time we’ve had a hiccup like this we’ve responded in the next two years with a national run. I am very much going to challenge my staff and our team that that needs to be the message. We underachieved compared to who we are and we’re going to come back and get after it next year.”
Just like Coastal, South Carolina did not earn an at-large bid. The Gamecocks had a 35-25 record this season.
“One of the things that stood out to us for South Carolina was they went 2-8 in their conference series,” NCAA Baseball Committee chairman Scott Sidwell. “Their overall body of work, we just didn’t feel like they were a team that was worthy of at-large.”
Clemson found out on Sunday that it made the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers are one of 16 regional hosts. They open the tournament against UNC Greensboro on Friday at 7 p.m.
The other two teams playing at Doug Kingsmore Stadium are #2 Vanderbilt and #3 St. John’s. Those teams play Friday at noon.
