Conway, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers posted double-digit runs for the fourth-straight game on Saturday, as the home team defeated the Maryland Terrapins 10-3 in game two of the three-game weekend series at Springs Brooks Stadium.
The Chanticleers have won four-straight contests and are now 6-3 overall on the season. The loss drops Maryland to 6-3 on the year.
The pitching staff again kept the Terrapins' bats at bay, as the CCU arms held the visiting Terps to just three runs on five hits.
Reliever
Alaska Abney (2-0) picked up the win, as the righty pitched 4.1 strong innings out of the bullpen. He gave up two runs on four hits, a walk, and struck out six Maryland batters over the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth innings.
Starter
Scott Kobos (3.2 IP, 1 hit, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO) sent down nine-straight batters in order to start the game, but ran into trouble in the fourth before being relieved by Abney, while freshman reliever
Casey Green (1.0 IP) pitched a clean ninth inning.
UMD's Nick Dean (0-1) had a solid outing in his start, as he allowed just two runs on six hits, three walks, and six strikeouts over 5.0 innings in the loss.
The Chants got to the Maryland bullpen, as CCU's offense torched the three relievers for eight runs, seven of which were earned, on five hits and five walks.
Coastal's offense continued its hot streak, as the men in teal had six players record at least one hit for the game, four of which had multiple hits in
Cooper Weiss (3-for-4, 2 2B, BB, 3 RBIs, 2 runs, SB),
Eric Brown (2-for-4, BB, RBI, 2 runs, SB),
Alex Gattinelli (2-for-3, 2B, BB, RBI, SB), and
Nick Lucky (2-for-3, HBP, 4 runs, 2 SB).
On top of that, both
Fox Leum (1-for-3, SF, 2 RBIs) and
Tanner Garrison (1-for-4, 2 RBIs) each drove in two RBIs in the victory.
Maryland's offense again struggled, as the Terps had just four players pick up a hit in the loss. Outfielder Randy Bednar (2-for-4, 2B, RBI, run) had two base hits, while fellow outfielder Chris Alleyne (1-for-3, 2B, 2 runs) scored two of the Terps' three runs.
CCU scored first in the bottom of the first, as Lucky lined a one-out single to right field and then advanced two bases, all the way to third, on a wild pitch. Gattinelli then doubled off the left-field fence to plate Lucky and put the home team up 1-0 early.
Kobos, who cruised through the first three innings, got into some trouble in the top of the fourth as the lead-off hitter doubled down the left-field line. After a fly ball moved the runner up to third, a wild pitch allowed him to score and tie the game up at 1-1.
Following back-to-back walks, a pop-out to third, and a third walk in the inning, Abney replaced Kobos with two outs and the bases loaded.
The side-twirler needed just three pitches to strike out the Maryland hitter and leave the bases loaded.
Coastal retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a two-out RBI single by Leum and then doubled its lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth when Weiss scored from third on a wild pitch after leading off the frame with a double.
The scoring continued for the Chants in the next inning, as the home team scored three more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning with the help of three walks, a hit batter, a sacrifice bunt, and a two-run single off the bat of Garrison to push its lead out to five at 6-1.
Maryland got two runs back in the top half of the eighth on a Bednar RBI double and a Tavan Shahidi RBI ground out to cut the Coastal lead to three at 6-3.
The offense was not done, however, as the Chants pulled away with a four-run eighth highlighted by a sacrifice fly from Leum, an RBI single by Brown, and a two-run double from Weiss to put the final score at 10-3.
The Chants (6-3) will look to complete the series sweep over the Terrapins (6-3) tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET.
For complete coverage of CCU baseball, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalBaseball (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUsports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.
