Featured Articles

On such topics as politics, sports and fitness, art, food, fashion, and social issues from our 2008 Spring Semester Issue.

El Amor, Francia

Words & Photography: Victoria Livinski

Corpse Pose Juxtaposed

Words: Donald K | Photography: Bodyworlds.com

A League Of Their Own

Words: Alex Murphey | Photography: Coastal Carolina

Springtime means a lot of different things to people, whether it’s warmer weather, rainy days, fresh flowers, barbeque, convertibles or just the thought of summer around the corner and how the beach awaits. It is fair to say the list is endless. There is one thought, however, that stands out among most people and can easily be agreed on as a major importance in the heads of nearly half of the population in this country, and that is baseball.

At Coastal Carolina University, the mindset is no different, as the smell of fresh green grass fills the air around Charles Watson Stadium/Vrooman Field, along with new renovations including work to the outfield wall and a new scoreboard, the teal seats look more ready than ever to be filled with spectators. With more renovations on the way such as an indoor hitting complex, the team is more than deserving seeing as baseball could be Coastal’s strongest program.

Sure, that is a bold statement at a school where sports are king and there are more than a fair share of teams in every season that continue to make headlines and catch the nation’s eye, but few have a dynasty like Coastal Baseball. Taking the Big South title 10 times and making it to the NCAA regional championships six times in the last seven years, all the while creating excellent players strong enough to be drafted into Major League Baseball, is something to brag about. The list goes on and on as the team’s winning percentage, since the turn of the century, has been placed in the top 15 schools in the country, and most importantly the team has been ranked nationally as 24th.

Undeniably, a large part of the team’s success belongs to head coach Gary Gilmore whose 13 years with Coastal has been nothing but achievements with 10 straight winning seasons and what seems like an 11th underway. Along with being a National Coach of the Year finalist twice and having seven of his players make it to the Major Leagues, Gilmore has quite the resume.

Gilmore himself can see how the team’s hard work is paying off in big ways. “I think our fan base, at least on campus, has grown considerably over the last year,” Gilmore commented, “opening day was an unbelievable crowd. I know as soon as our new bleacher area where the fans can tailgate is built, our fan base will significantly improve.”

Fans are not the only change that Gilmore has seen in recent years, as he too was once a Chanticleer playing centerfield in 1979 and 1980. He has seen the team develop and improve, bringing in more students who are interested in becoming part of Coastal’s baseball team. “I think a lot more people are aware of us. Five, six, seven years ago, very few freshmen came in here and played right away. The majority of them were red-shirted and developed a year before they played. Now the majority of our freshmen are ready to play. Consequently, you start getting into that tier of athlete; you’re competing head-to-head with the middle of the pack in the ACC [Atlantic coast Conference] and SEC [South Eastern Conference]. We’re not going to get the number one prospect from Clemson, South Carolina or North Carolina, those kinds of programs. We’ve made some inroads and you look at the freshmen who have played for us two years ago, last year and this year– pretty much a telltale sign that our success over the last few years has gotten us some recruits that are very comparable to the middle of the ACC and SEC. That’s a big thing for us,” Gilmore says.

The team enjoyed some of its biggest success last year in the 2007 season with the team winning 50 games for the second time in three years and a record low of only 13 losses. The team also won the Big South Conference both by the regular season and tournament title, once again. They later captured the nation’s attention as Coastal hosted the NCAA Regional for its first time at the Myrtle Beach Pelican’s home stadium, BB&T Coastal Field where Coastal would end their season with dreams of making it to the College World Series.

Fourteen games into the 2008 season and Coastal baseball continues to be a success with some big wins such as 10-4 against Maryland, 6-0 over George Mason and a crushing 11-4 win over North Carolina. The team has won every home game thus far and have fallen only once on the road to the College of Charleston who squeaked by with a win in the bottom of the 11th inning to winning the game 12-13.

Coastal baseball has also proven to be more than a winning team on the field as the team has worked nonstop to keep their priorities straight and a have a strong overall GPA average of 3.0. Gilmore knows this is important and expresses his belief that school comes first. “It’s at the forefront of what we do,” says Gilmore, “baseball is a reward in school. That was always preached to me growing up. Our academic support staff has done a tremendous job of being the frontline guys out there in the trenches. Several years ago, that was totally left up to the coaches.”

It may still be early in the season, but there seems to be no end to what Coastal’s baseball team can accomplish. Gilmore knows that and confidently proclaims, “the verdict is very much still out there. We haven’t even got to the 25 percent mark of our season. It’s a lot easier to start well and have confidence than to be the other way and trying to battle out of holes. This team has bits and pieces that last year’s team didn’t have. Hopefully, we can continue to win and develop those pieces and at the end of the year, whether we’re home or on the road, and we’re fortunate enough to be in a regional, hopefully, we finally have enough pieces of the puzzle to make it work.”