Box Score Baseball Gets 10th Straight Win, Defeats Ball State, 7-3 A six-run fourth gives Coastal all it needs offensively in the win.
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No. 20 Coastal Carolina rode the strength of a six-run fourth inning to a 7-3 victory over visiting Ball State in the second game of the Centex Homes Invitational at Charles Watson Stadium/Vrooman Field, Mar. 14. With their 10th straight victory, the Chanticleers move to 14-1 on the year, while the Cardinals fall to 7-7.
After a pair of scoreless innings, CCU got on the board first, as redshirt sophomore Chance Gilmore led off the bottom half of the inning with an opposite-field home run to left to put the Chants up 1-0.
The Chants then got it going in the fourth, putting up a six spot in the frame on the strength of five hits. Senior Tommy Baldridge made it the second straight inning with a leadoff bomb, as he drove one to left as well to make it 2-0 CCU. Junior David Anderson followed with a double to left and moved to third on junior Tyler Bortnick’s sacrifice bunt. Senior Derek Martin walked to put runners on the corners, with Anderson scoring on Gilmore’s ground out. From there, the Chants strung together three straight two-out hits, starting with freshman Scott Woodward’s single to shortstop that scored Martin on a throwing error by the shortstop. Woodward moved to second on a wild pitch and then scored on junior centerfielder David Sappelt’s single to center. Sappelt advanced to third on the play, as the centerfielder misplayed the ball and it got by him for the two-base error. However, that wouldn’t matter as redshirt junior catcher Dock Doyle drove the ball down the left field line and over the teal fence to put Coastal up 7-0.
Ball State battled back in the top of the fifth, as the Cardinals put together three runs on three hits. Kolbrin Vitek opened the inning with a walk and advanced to second on Ryan Chenoweth’s single up the middle. The Cardinals got on the board when Vitek scored on Alex Schmid’s fielder’s choice that had Chenoweth out at second. T.J. Baumet then doubled down the left field line to move Schmid to third and give BSU a pair of runners in scoring position. Dean Anna then grounded out to the first baseman to score Schmid and move Baumet to third, while trimming the lead to 7-2. Wayne Bond, Jr. then singled through the left side to score Baument, but Justin Rogers’ lineout to right field ended the threat for the Cardinals.
Coastal’s pitching then took control, allowing just three hits and three base runners over the final four innings to take command of the game. Redshirt sophomore Austin Fleet got the start and went six complete innings, giving up five hits and three earned runs on the day. Sophomore reliever Jeremiah Meiners went 1-2-3 in the seventh, while freshman Rich Witten gave up a single in the eighth that was not a threat and two base hits early in the ninth to give BSU an opening. However, sophomore Nick McCully came in and, on seven pitches, induced a ground-ball double play and then struck out Mack to conclude the game. Fleet picked up the win to go to 3-0 on the year, with McCully picking up his second save of the year. Brenden Stines took the loss after giving up seven earned runs and eight hits in 6.0 innings of work.
Doyle was solid at the plate on the day, going 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, one run scored and two RBI, while Woodward was 2-for-3 with an RBI, a stolen base and one run scored. Bond Jr. was the only Ball State player with a multi-hit day, going 2-for-4 with one RBI.
In other action on the day, Michigan defeated Presbyterian, 5-2, in the opening game of the tournament.
Coastal is back in action on Sat., Mar. 15, taking on No. 25 Michigan at 2:30 p.m. in Game Four of the Centex Homes Invitational at Watson Stadium/Vrooman Field.
