CONWAY
Socastee native Chris Lemonis revealed at his introductory press conference as the new baseball coach at Coastal Carolina that coming out of Socastee High School, then Coastal coach John Vrooman didn’t consider him good enough to play for the Chants. So, he enrolled at The Citadel where he became an All-Southern Conference first baseman and DH, and was later inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
Lemonis was part of The Citadel team that played in the College World Series in 1990. He later became a coach and won a national championship at Mississippi State. Along with a stop at Indiana, Lemonis has won 373 games in 11 seasons as a head coach.
Lemonis is the 7th baseball coach for the Chants, a program that also owns one national championship and played for a second one two seasons ago. He knows the program and its history well. He also understands the culture of the school. His wife is a grad.
Lemonis talked one-on-one with SportsTalk following his press conference.