Six South Carolina teams in NCAA baseball tournament

Posted 7:55AM on Tuesday 31st May 2005 ( 19 years ago )

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Coastal Carolina head coach Gary Gilmore says he's still pinching himself after the Chanticleers earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. ``I'm not sure if this is really happening,'' Gilmore said. ``You know for a small, midmajor school to be chosen as a one seed, it's kind of a dream come true for us and gives hope to all schools our size.'' Coastal Carolina is one of six South Carolina teams that made it into the NCAA tournament field announced Monday. Top-seeded Clemson (39-21) will face North Carolina A (27-25) in the only regional hosted in South Carolina, which also pits No. 2 seed College of Charleston (47-13) against No. 3 seed Oral Roberts (40-18). Clemson won nine games straight to end the regular season, eclipsing a shaky start to the season for the young Tigers. ``There's no question at all that we deserve to host,'' coach Jack Leggett said. Leggett says the turning point came after the Tigers started using a tough schedule to their advantage, realizing they could compete with anyone. ``The toughness of the schedule may have hurt our confidence a little bit or we just never got in that confident role,'' Leggett said. South Carolina and Furman will travel to Atlanta for the regional hosted by Georgia Tech, while Winthrop heads to Knoxville for the Tennessee regional. No other state had as many teams in the tournament, and teams from the Palmetto State make up nearly 10 percent of the 64-team field. ``That's the one thing about our state that a lot of people don't take recognition of ... the quality of college baseball in South Carolina,'' Gilmore said. ``It's unbelievable the competition just right here in your own backyard.'' Last year, five teams made the field. The 16 four-team, double-elimination regionals begin Friday. The 16 survivors from round one play in best-of-3 series to get whittled down to eight teams that go to Omaha, Neb., for the College World Series. Coastal Carolina (48-14) will face UNLV (34-27) in the Tempe, Ariz. regional, which also pits No. 3 East Carolina (35-24) against No. 2 Arizona State (34-22). Coastal Carolina is the only No. 1 seed not hosting a regional. ``It was pretty much bedlam'' in the Myrtle Beach restaurant where the Chanticleers watched the announcements on ESPN, Gilmore says. ``In all honesty, we've never one time talked about that all year. We talk about getting up making our march to Omaha. But I don't think any of us thought that'd we be in that position.'' Coastal is the Big South Conference's first top seed in the NCAA tournament. Winthrop (43-20) earned its bid to the Knoxville, Tenn., regional after beating the Chanticleers to take the Big South Conference crown. No. 2 Winthrop faces Wichita State (49-27). On the other side of the bracket are No. 1 Tennessee (41-19) and No. 4 Austin Peay (38-22). Furman (30-27) got an automatic bid too after winning the Southern Conference tournament. The fourth-seeded Paladins will face No. 1 seed Georgia Tech (41-17) in Atlanta. After an up-and-down season, the Paladins had to sweep a three-game series with Davidson to make the tournament as the No. 8 seed. The Paladins won four straight games to claim the SoCon title, beating Georgia Southern in the championship game. ``We're delighted to be playing baseball in June because 10 days ago, we were a long shot to be in this position,'' coach Ron Smith said. Furman could wind up facing South Carolina in the Atlanta regional; the Paladins gave the Gamecocks two losses this season the first time since 1953 that they beat South Carolina more than once in a season. The second-seeded Gamecocks (38-21), who will play No. 3 Michigan (41-17), have made three consecutive trips to the College World Series and are trying for a fourth trip after a season a spotty offense. ``Is it a difficult road? Certainly,'' said head coach Ray Tanner. ``But it hasn't been done before, and we have a chance. A lot of people are disappointed with our season and the way we finished up, but we're an NCAA team and now we have a chance.'' South Carolina's bats will have to heat up if the Gamecocks are to do well against Georgia Tech. ``If we score runs, we're going to have chance,'' Tanner said. ``And I believe that. Our pitching staff has been solid all year. We're not going to be unblemished on the mound, but we're going to pitch pretty good.'' Senior Aaron Rawl will start against Michigan, Tanner said.

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