CONWAY, S.C. – With a series sweep on the line for the No. 8/10 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, the No. 23/24 Southern Miss Golden Eagles used their offense to stave off the three-game conference sweep with a 15-7 win over the Chanticleers on Sunday afternoon at Springs Brooks Stadium.
The loss dropped Coastal to 26-12 overall and 13-5 in conference play, while with the win, USM moved to 23-15 overall and 11-7 in league action.
Despite the Sunday loss, the Chants still took the series win at two games to one and have won 12 straight Sun Belt Conference series dating back to April 8-10 of last year and have not dropped a three-game weekend series this season.
For the first time in eight games, the Chanticleers' offense did not hit a home run, driving in seven runs on just eight hits, six walks, and three hit batters.
The Chants stranded 11 runners on base for the game, compared to seven by the Golden Eagles.
Outfielder
Chad Born (2-for-5, 2B, 4 RBIs, run) led the way with four RBIs, matching his career high, while lead-off hitter
Payton Eeles (2-for-5, run) joined Born with two base hits.
Driving in one RBI each in the loss was
Graham Brown (1-for-5, RBI, run),
Caden Bodine (1-for-3, 2 BB, RBI, run), and
Blake Barthol (1-for-4, 2B, RBI), who returned to the lineup from an injury for the first time in three weeks.
For Southern Miss offensively, the Golden Eagles had five players drive in multiple RBIs, led by four RBIs from Slade Wilks (2-for-5, HR, HBP, 4 RBIs, 2 runs) and three each from Matthew Etzel (3-for-6, HR, 3 RBIs, 2 runs) and Reece Ewing (2-for-5, HR, 3 RBIs, 3 runs). Tate Parker (2-for-3, HR, 2B, 2 RBIs, 2 runs) came off the bench to hit a home run, a double, and drive in two RBIs in the win.
Taking the loss for the Chants was reliever
Teddy Sharkey (4-1), as the righty was tacked for five unearned runs on four hits, one walk, one hit batter, and two strikeouts over 1.1 innings pitched.
USM reliever Justin Storm (2-1) picked up the win, as the lefty fired 2.1-scoreless innings, allowing one hit and walking one over part of the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.
It was a story of big innings early, as Southern Miss pushed across four runs in the top of the first inning on an Etzel lead-off home run, an RBI single to right field by Ewing, and a two-run double to right-center field from Carson Paetow to take a 4-0 lead.
Coastal tied the game up with a big inning of its own in the bottom of the third frame, as the home team took advantage of a dropped fly ball in the outfield.
Brown started the scoring with an RBI single, followed by a second RBI single from Bodine to cut the Golden Eagles' lead in half at 4-2.
Three batters later, after back-to-back strikeouts, Born laced a two-out double to right-center field to score two more Chants and tie the game up at 4-4 through three innings of play.
The Chants took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Born came through again with a two-out RBI single through the right side, while Barthol doubled to the wall in left-center field to plate one more run to push the home team in front at 7-4 heading into the sixth inning of play.
However, the scoring was not done there, as the Golden Eagles picked up a two-run home run from Ewing in the top of the sixth inning to close the gap to one at 7-6.
After Sharkey got the Chants out of a bases-loaded jam with back-to-back strikeouts in the top of the seventh inning, the offense looked to add some insurance runs in the bottom of the inning, yet left the bases loaded to keep the score at 7-6 with two innings to play.
In the next half inning, Southern Miss took advantage of a dropped fly ball in the outfield to start the top of the eighth inning, which aided a five-run rally, highlighted by an RBI double by Parker, and three RBI singles from Etzel, Wilks, and Sargent, respectively, to propel the visitors in front by four at 11-7.
The Chants stranded one runner in the bottom of the eighth and went down in order in the ninth, while Southern Miss added four runs in the top of the ninth for good measure on home runs from Parker and Wilks to pull away for the 15-7 conference road win.
The Chants will hit the road for the next four games starting at No. 2 Wake Forest (34-6, 16-4 ACC) on Tuesday, April 25, at 6 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on the ACC Network and WRNN Hot Talk 99.5 FM.
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.
