Steve Sabins Names Chansen Cole Opening Day Starter at Georgia Southern

West Virginia University baseball head coach Steve Sabins revealed Monday afternoon he will turn to sophomore Chansen Cole as the opening day starter at Georgia Southern on Friday.

The six-foot-four right hander transferred from Newbury College - a D-II school out of South Carolina. All 14 of his appearances for the Wolves last season were starts. As a true freshman, he limited opponents to a .220 batting average and posted a 7-5 record with a 3.39 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 87.2 innings of work.

“He’s about as mature and confident as sophomore player that I’ve ever had,” West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins said. “Sometimes when a player is coming from a lower level, I feel like they kind of put their toe in the water and figure out like, ‘Hey, am I meant to be here? Can I do this?’ He’s just come in with such conviction and clarity that he’s capable. He’s really been a pleasant surprise.”

Sabins and his staff zeroed in on the Cole during their run to the NCAA Super Regionals.

“When we were playing Clemson in the regional, we were recruiting him pretty actively,” Sabins said. “So, he came and bought a ticket and watched us play Clemson. So, sweeping that regional sure helps on the recruiting front when the Mountaineer fans are going crazy and you’re winning ball games.”

“Before we flew out on the jet after winning the regional, I had breakfast with him and his family. At a breakfast restaurant got to meet his folks – awesome family, awesome kid,” Sabins added.

Chansen threw over 100 pitches in five games last season, but don’t expect deep outings at the outset of the season.

“Early in the season, pitch counts are usually about 75 tops -we’ve built up to that. No one’s thrown that much yet,” Sabins Stated. “They’re at 60 to 75 pitches this last weekend. It ends up needing being a lot of piggy back starts, meaning that someone could start and go three or four innings and then you bring in another somebody that’s already been built up in a similar role and so early in the season, you’re putting guys in those starting roles, but it doesn’t mean week three, week four, week five might look a lot different, its just who did you build up to get the largest workload on these weekends coming up.”

The first pitch for the Mountaineers’ season opener against the Eagles is set for 6:30 p.m. EST and the action will stream on ESPN+.

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