Coastal Carolina Pitcher Nick Parker Transfers to Virginia Baseball

Brian O'Connor secured a solid addition to the UVA starting pitching staff for next season

Matt Newton | Jul 13, 2022

Nick Parker, Coastal Carolina Chanticleers baseball — Courtesy of Coastal Carolina Athletics

Despite having one of its best offenses in program history, the Virginia baseball season ended in the regional round of the NCAA Tournament. One of the glaring weaknesses of the roster was pitching, and especially starting pitching. Brian O'Connor and the UVA coaching staff have set out this offseason to remedy that problem and bolster that area of the roster though the transfer portal. This week, the Cavaliers did just that as Coastal Carolina starting pitcher Nick Parker announced he is transferring to Virginia in an Instagram post on Monday.

In his senior season at Coastal, the right-handed Parker made 15 starts on the mound, recording a 4.45 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, and was credited with six wins and three losses. In 85 innings pitched, Parker registered 81 strikeouts to 23 walks and surrendered 42 earned runs and 83 hits and opposing batters hit .257 against him.

A strikeout pitcher, Parker's 81 punchouts ranked No. 7 in the Sun Belt last season. He struck out eight or more batters four times, including a 10-strikeout performance in an elimination game against East Carolina in the Greenville Regional.

After the Chanticleers ended UVA's season with a 7-6 win, they had to come right back out on the field and take on the challenge of beating East Carolina to keep their season alive for one more game. Nick Parker took the mound for the Chants and delivered a stellar performance, striking out 10 batters, giving up just three hits, and allowing zero runs in eight innings of work as he picked up the win and led Coastal to a 9-1 victory to force a winner-take-all final game.

The Pirates managed to clinch the regional with a 9-4 win the next day and Coastal's season came to an end, but Nick Parker's incredible outing on the mound was a fantastic final performance for his season, and as it turns out, his time at Coastal Carolina. Parker transfers to Virginia with one year of eligibility remaining.

Nick Parker is the third player to transfer to Virginia this offseason, joining Travis Reifsnider, a First-Team All-CAA catcher at JMU, and Ethan O'Donnell, a Second-Team All-Big Ten outfielder at Northwestern, but Parker is the first pitcher to come to Virginia through the transfer portal this summer.

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Published Jul 13, 2022

MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.