CONWAY - A three-run homer in the bottom of the six by sophomore Courtney Dean gave the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (25-9, 5-5 Sun Belt) a 7-5 victory on Friday afternoon over the ULM Warhawks (4-28, 1-9 Sun Belt) at St. John Stadium.

ULM struck first in the top of the first as leadoff hitter Sydney McKay walked and came around to score on single to right field by Jayden Mount. The Warhawks put down bunts by Watts and Thibodeax leading to a sacrifice fly by Bri Wroebel to bring in Mount for their second run.

The Chants answered in the bottom half of the first with three runs of their own. Sophomore Taylor Sweigart led off with a double down the left field line off ULM starter Adrianna Chavarria and then came around to score three batters later as freshman Sydney Guess grounded into a fielder's choice. Freshman Abbey Montoya and senior Alexis Alvino added runs batted in with a single and walk respectively to put Coastal up 3-2.

In third, right fielder Korie Kreps tied the game for Monroe as she started the inning with a homer off Chant starter Kaitlin Beasley-Polko.

CCU had a chance to put some runs on the scoreboard in the fourth as catcher Samantha Sack led off with a double into left center. Next batter, Mackenzie Beyer singled up the middle, but Warhawk reliever Jessie Watts worked her way out of the jam by getting the Chant bats to ground into consecutive fielder's choices on hard hit balls. Watts ended the inning by helping herself by getting Dean to line out and doubled off Sweigart at second base.

Sophomore Stavi Augur gave Coastal the lead, 4-3, with her fourth home run of the season with a line drive into right center.

After a walk to Korie Kreps, the Warhawks went up in the top of the sixth from back-to-back doubles from Mount and Bailey Thibodeaux.

Dean gave the Chants the lead in the bottom of the six and Kaitlin Beasley-Polko was able keep ULM off the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh to improve to 16-6 win of the season for her 12^th complete game. The sophomore allowed five runs with six strikeouts.

Dean's only hit of the game came in the sixth of the aforementioned home run for her league-leading 11^th of the year.

Sweigart went 2-for-4 with two runs scored for the CCU.

Mount went 4-for-4 on the day with a double.

The Chanticleers and the Warhawks return on Saturday for game two with first pitch at 2:00 p.m. 

For complete coverage of CCU softball, follow the Chanticleers on social media at @CoastalSB (twitter), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) and facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com