The Charleston Cougars baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of the

College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, United States. The team is a member of the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

, which is part of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

's Division I. The team plays its home games at

CofC Baseball Stadium at Patriot's Point College of Charleston Baseball Stadium at Patriots Point is a baseball venue located in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. It is home to the College of Charleston Cougars baseball team, a member of the Division I Colonial Athletic Association. ...

Mount Pleasant, South Carolina Mount Pleasant is a large suburban town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. In the Low Country, it is the fourth largest municipality and largest town in South Carolina, and for several years was one of the state's fastest-growin ...

. The Cougars are currently coached by

Chad Holbrook Chad Holbrook (born January 14, 1971) is an American baseball coach, who is the current head baseball coach of the College of Charleston Cougars baseball, College of Charleston Cougars. Prior to becoming head coach for the Cougars, Holbrook was he ...

, 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 The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

(2006) and one in the

(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 Monte Wesley Lee (born February 9, 1977) is an American baseball coach, who is the current associate head baseball coach and recruiting coordinator for the South Carolina Gamecocks. He played college baseball for the Charleston Cougars from 1996 ...

, 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 Taylor James Clarke (born May 13, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Amateur career Clarke attended Broad Run H ...

(3rd RD, 2015), Carl Wise (4th RD, 2015) and

Heath Hembree Richard Heath Hembree (born January 13, 1989), nicknamed Heater, is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. Listed at and , Hembree throws and bats right-handed. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with the San F ...

(5th RD, 2010), who reached MLB in 2013. Lee left Charleston after the 2015 season to take the same position with the

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) s ...

. In 2017,

was hired on as head coach after a four year stint with

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. 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 CAA may refer to: Law * Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 of India ** Citizenship Amendment Act protests, Protests regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Act * Copyright transfer agreement, Copyright assignment agreement, to transfer copyright to ...

regular season champions for the first time since 2015. Charleston has produced 28 college All-Americans and 62 professional players, including

Brett Gardner Brett Michael Gardner (born August 24, 1983) is an American professional baseball outfielder who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees. Gardner was a walk-on for the College of Charleston's base ...

of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

. From 2004 to 2015, the College of Charleston has the 13th best winning percentage in all of Division I baseball.

Oliver Marmol Oliver Jose Marmol (born July 2, 1986) is an American professional baseball manager and former coach who is the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). As of the 2023 season, he is the youngest manager of an MLB team. ...

, the current manager of the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, is a former Cougar baseball player.

Year-by-year results

Charleston's history since joining Division I in 1991.

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. (Bold indicates furthest advancement.)

Major League Baseball

The College of Charleston has had 60

Major League Baseball Draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

selections since the draft began in 1965. In 2015, pitcher Taylor Clarke eclipsed outfielder

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.

References

External links