Top 100 Countdown: 43. Anthony Meo (Coastal Carolina)

College Baseball Daily continues our countdown to the start of the 2011 College Baseball season by checking in on the Top 100 Players in the country. We will be providing one player per day until we reach number 1.

We continue the countdown today at number 43 with Coastal Carolina junior RHP Anthony Meo. The Cranston, Rhode Island, native attended Cranston West High School as he helped his team to back-to-back state championships in his final two seasons, garnering All-State honors both seasons. Meo struck out 95 batters in 53 innings his senior season, and was named MVP of the State Championship his junior season. The Washington Nationals selected him in the 2008 MLB Draft in the 43rd round. He decided to attend Coastal Carolina to continue his baseball career.

Meo started 13 games in his Freshman season, going 9-2 with a 2.93 ERA, giving up only 2 homeruns in 76 innings pitched and was named to the All-Big South First Team. He was also named a Freshman All-American by multiple publications, breaking the Coastal Carolina record for wins by a freshman, and was the first freshman to start opening day under head coach Gary Gilmore.

While he had a great Freshman year, he improved on his numbers even more, going 13-2 with a 2.61 ERA in 16 starts, striking out 94 batters in 96.2 innings while improving his WHIP from 1.29 to 1.20. He held batters to a .230 batting average in 2010. Meo hasn’t thrown a complete game in his career, but he did pitch 8.2 innings in a losing effort at San Diego back on March 28^th and struck out 9 in 6 innings as part of a shutout against VMI in the final weekend of the season. He became the Friday starter for the Chanticleers by midseason.

Meo led the Big South in wins and was second in ERA and was named Big South Pitcher of the Year, and was a NCBWA First Team All-American. Meo was invited to the Team USA National Team Trials in Cary, North Carolina, from July 6^th to July 11^th. Despite not being named to Team USA, Meo had a great summer in the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Bourne Braves, going 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA in 5 starts with an amazing 1.09 WHIP.