Charleston Cougars baseball

American college baseball team
   NCAA regional champions2006, 2014NCAA Tournament appearances2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015Conference tournament championsSoCon: 2006
CAA: 2014Regular season conference championsSoCon: 2004, 2005, 2007, 2012
CAA: 2015, 2022, 2024

The Charleston Cougars baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, United States.[2] The team is a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, which is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The team plays its home games at CofC Baseball Stadium at Patriot's Point in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The Cougars are currently coached by Chad Holbrook, who was previously the head coach at the University of South Carolina.

History

The College of Charleston baseball team has been a member of NCAA Division I since 1991. The Cougars have won six regular season conference titles and two conference tournament championships, one in the Southern Conference (2006) and one in the Colonial Athletic Association (2014). The Cougars have appeared in the NCAA Division I baseball tournament seven times, most recently in 2015. They have advanced to the Super Regional round of the NCAA tournament twice (2006, 2014), accounting for their deepest postseason run. The Cougars swept the 2006 Lexington Regional and the 2014 Gainesville Regional, before falling to Georgia Tech and Texas Tech, respectively.

From 2009 until 2015, the Cougars were coached by Monte Lee, a former player for Charleston. During Lee's tenure at CofC, the Cougars went 276–145, qualifying for the NCAA tournament in four of Lee's six seasons. Lee coached three players that were drafted in the first five rounds in the MLB Draft: Taylor Clarke (3rd RD, 2015), Carl Wise (4th RD, 2015) and Heath Hembree (5th RD, 2010), who reached MLB in 2013. Lee left Charleston after the 2015 season to take the same position with the Clemson Tigers.

In 2017, Chad Holbrook was hired on as head coach after a four year stint with South Carolina. Chad was previously recruiter of the year and assistant coach of the year as an assistant coach with South Carolina lead the Gamecocks to the NCAA Super Regionals twice during his tenure as head coach. In 2022, the Cougars were the CAA regular season champions for the first time since 2015.

Charleston has produced 28 college All-Americans and 62 professional players, including Brett Gardner of the New York Yankees. From 2004 to 2015, the College of Charleston has the 13th best winning percentage in all of Division I baseball.[3] Oliver Marmol, the current manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, is a former Cougar baseball player.

Year-by-year results

Charleston's history since joining Division I in 1991.[4]

Cougars yearly records
Year Overall record Conference record Accomplishments
1991 22–12–1 Ind
1992 16–29 2–19 (TAAC)
1993 18–24 9–9 (TAAC)
1994 27–21 7–11 (TAAC)
1995 17–29 8–22 (TAAC)
1996 28–23 8–10 (TAAC)
1997 25–29–1 7–11 (TAAC)
1998 31–26 9–9 (TAAC)
1999 31–24 19–10 (SoCon)
2000 28–28–1 14–15–1 (SoCon)
2001 24–28 10–16 (SoCon)
2002 36–22 19–11 (SoCon)
2003 31–27 17–13 (SoCon)
2004 47–16 25–5 (SoCon) SoCon Regular season Champions, NCAA Regional
2005 48–15 27–3 (SoCon) SoCon Regular season Champions, NCAA Regional
2006 46–17 20–7 (SoCon) SoCon Tournament champions, NCAA Super Regional
2007 39–19 20–7 (SoCon) SoCon Regular season Champions
2008 39–20 19–8 (SoCon)
2009 35–22 17–13 (SoCon)
2010 44–19 22–8 (SoCon) NCAA Regional
2011 39–22 18–12 (SoCon)
2012 38–22 21–9 (SoCon) SoCon Regular season Champions, NCAA Regional
2013 31–26 17–13 (SoCon)
2014 44–19 15–6 (CAA) CAA Tournament champions, NCAA Super Regional
2015 45–15 21–3 (CAA) CAA Regular season Champions, NCAA Regional
2016 31–25–1 12–12 (CAA)
2017 28–31 13–11 (CAA)
2018 36-19 15-8 (CAA)
2019 36-21 16-8 (CAA)
2020 12-2 0-0 (CAA) Season cancelled
2021 27-25 12-12 (CAA)
2022 37-19 19-5 (CAA) CAA Regular season Champions
2023 36-22 18-12 (CAA)
2024 41-14 21-5 (CAA) CAA Regular season Champions

NCAA tournament results

Charleston has appeared in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship seven times, most recently in 2015 when the Cougars lost in the Tallahassee Regional final to Florida State. Charleston's overall record in the NCAA tournament is 14–14.

Year Seed Round Opponents Results
2004 #3 Baton Rouge Regional #2 Southern Mississippi
#4 Army
#2 Southern Mississippi
#1 LSU
L 6–5
W 2–1
W 7–3
L 11–3
2005 #2 Clemson Regional #3 Oral Roberts
#1 Clemson
#3 Oral Roberts
W 5–2
L 6–0
L 6–0
2006 #2 Lexington Regional #3 Notre Dame
#4 Ball State
#1 Kentucky
W 5–4
W 11–0
W 7–4
2006 #2 Atlanta Super Regional #1 Georgia Tech L 5–0
L 12–3
2010 #2 Myrtle Beach Regional #3 NC State
#1 Coastal Carolina
#1 Coastal Carolina
#1 Coastal Carolina
W 9–6
W 16–6
L 8–7
L 11–10
2012 #3 Gainesville Regional #2 Georgia Tech
#4 Bethune-Cookman
#2 Georgia Tech
L 8–4
W 8–2
L 3–0
2014 #4 Gainesville Regional #1 Florida
#2 Long Beach State
#2 Long Beach State
W 3–2
W 6–3
W 4–2
2014 #4 Lubbock Super Regional #1 Texas Tech L 1–0
L 1–0
2015 #2 Tallahassee Regional #3 Auburn
#1 Florida State
#3 Auburn
#1 Florida State
W 7–6
L 3–2
W 3–2
L 8–1

(Bold indicates furthest advancement.)

Major League Baseball

The College of Charleston has had 60 Major League Baseball Draft selections since the draft began in 1965.[5] In 2015, pitcher Taylor Clarke eclipsed outfielder Brett Gardner as the highest Charleston player ever drafted, as Clarke was the first pick of the third round (76th overall) which bested Gardner's 109th overall selection in the third round of 2005.[6]

Cougars in the Major League Baseball Draft
Year Player Round Team
1981 Jeffrey Barnes 26 Rangers
1991 Tony Rodriguez 10 Red Sox
1992 Dave Pyc 19 Dodgers
1998 Donato Calandriello 7 Athletics
1999 Monte Lee 39 Cardinals
1999 Scott Oliver 8 Yankees
2003 Matt Lauderdale 9 Padres
2003 Lee Curtis 8 Red Sox
2005 Reid Price 29 Cardinals
2005 D.J. Wabick 25 Mets
2005 Kevin Bulger 25 Royals
2005 Ryan Edell 8 Indians
2005 Brett Harker 5 Phillies
2005 Brett Gardner 3 Yankees
2006 Graham Godfrey 34 Blue Jays
2006 Larry Cobb 27 Athletics
2006 Joshua McLaughlin 20 Athletics
2007 Michael Harrington 38 Orioles
2007 Ben Lasater 29 Marlins
2007 Michael Bunton 26 Cubs
2007 Brian Schlitter 16 Phillies
2007 Nicholas Chigges 13 Yankees
2007 Alex Garabedian 8 Dodgers
2007 Oliver Marmol 6 Cardinals
2008 Danny Meszaros 48 Astros
2008 Brandon Sizemore 46 Cardinals
2008 Clayton Caulfield 38 Yankees
2008 Jake Goldberg 36 Mets
2008 Mike Lynn 30 Mets
2008 Austin Garrett 25 Nationals
2008 Michael Kohn 13 Angels
2008 Michael Harrington 13 Twins
2008 Jeremie Tice 6 Indians
2009 Jesse Simpson 40 Cardinals
2009 Brandon Sizemore 30 Brewers
2009 Joey Bergman 22 Cardinals
2009 Matthew Mansilla 22 Tigers
2010 Casey Lucchese 39 Cubs
2010 Kevin Decker 39 Pirates
2010 Joey Bergman 33 Cardinals
2010 Robert Kral 16 Reds
2010 Heath Hembree 5 Giants
2011 David Peterson 49 Astros
2011 Casey Lucchese 38 Cubs
2011 Matt Leeds 31 Rangers
2011 Robert Kral 10 Padres
2012 David Peterson 8 Braves
2012 Christian Powell 8 Twins
2012 Marty Gantt 7 Rays
2013 Jacob Zokan 9 Mariners
2014 Gunnar Heidt 13 Blue Jays
2015 Taylor Clarke 3 Diamondbacks
2015 Carl Wise 4 Blue Jays
2015 Blake Butler 15 Reds
2016 Bradley Jones 18 Blue Jays
2017 Bailey Ober 12 Twins
2018 Evan Sisk 16 Cardinals
2018 Luke Morgan 20 Rockies
2019 Nate Ocker 29 Guardians
2019 Griffin McLarty 8 Orioles
2023 William Privette 13 Rangers

See also

References

  1. ^ College of Charleston Athletics Identity Standards (PDF). June 11, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  2. ^ "College of Charleston Cougars". d1baseball.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-16. Retrieved 2014-01-15.
  3. ^ "Charleston Baseball Record Book 2015" (PDF). CofCSports. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-13. Retrieved 2015-06-11.
  4. ^ College of Charleston 2014 Baseball Reference Book. CofCSports.com. 2014.
  5. ^ "MLB Amateur Draft Picks who came from "College of Charleston (Charleston, SC)"". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
  6. ^ "Taylor Clarke Becomes @CofCBaseball's Highest-Ever Draft Pick". CofCSports.

External links

  • Official website Edit this at Wikidata