LAFAYETTE, La. – Down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth and trailing 2-1, super senior
Nick Lucky belted a solo home run to left field to keep the Chanticleers alive while in the bottom half of the inning senior
Graham Brown robbed the Ragin' Cajuns of a walk-off home run with a leaping catch at the wall in right field to propel the No. 5/6 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers to a 3-2 extra-inning win over the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in 11 innings in the Sunday series finale in Lafayette, La.
The win pushed Coastal to 28-14 overall and 15-6 in Sun Belt play and keeps the Chants atop the regular-season conference standings, while Louisiana fell to 29-17 overall and 11-10 in league play with the heartbreaking loss.
With the win, the Men in Teal took the three-game road series 2-1 over the Cajuns and extended their streak to 13 consecutive Sun Belt Conference series wins dating back to last year.
In fact, with the series win, the Chants have not lost a weekend series all season long.
The heroics began in the top of the ninth inning, as Louisiana was ahead 2-1 with two outs in the inning with Lucky at the plate.
The veteran Chant, who played in his 200th game for Coastal on Friday night, belted a 2-1 pitch over the wall in left field to tie the game up at 2-2.
With the score now tied, the Ragin' Cajuns looked for the walk-off win in the bottom of the inning as Carson Roccaforte hit a laser to deep right field. However, Brown tracked the ball to the wall and made a leaping catch to rob the Cajuns of the home run and the win to keep the score at 2-2.
After both teams stranded the go-ahead and game-winning run on base in the 10th inning, Brown led off the 11th inning with a walk. He moved up to second base on a passed ball and then eventually to third base on a wild pitch to set the stage for
Derek Bender, as the CCU RBIs leader hit a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Brown and put the Chants on top 3-2.
Coastal closer
Teddy Sharkey (5-1) did the rest, as he recorded a 1-2-3 ninth, pitched around a one-out hit in the 10th, and struck out two hitters in a three-up and three-down 11th to pick up the win.
Overall, the Coastal pitching was superb on Sunday, as the trio of
Riley Eikhoff,
Jack Billings, and Sharkey held Louisiana to two runs on six hits and five walks while striking out 10 batters.
Sharkey pitched a career-high 4.0 innings, giving up just one hit and striking out four to earn his fifth win of the year.
Making just his second start of the season, Eikhoff threw a career-high 5.0-plus innings, giving up just two runs on five hits, two walks, and four strikeouts.
Not to be outdone, Billings was unhittable out of the bullpen when taking over for Eikhoff in the sixth inning, walking three batters and striking out two over 2.0-scoreless innings.
The Louisiana pitching staff was up for the task as well, as starter David Christie gave up just one run on two hits and struck out seven batters in 6.0 innings of work. However, reliever Brendan Moody (0-4) gave up the sacrifice fly in the 11th inning to take the loss.
Recording the five hits for the Coastal offense was freshman catcher
Caden Bodine (2-for-5, HR, 2B, RBI, run) with a home run and double, while Lucky (1-for-4, HR, RBI, run),
Chad Born (1-for-4), and
Blake Barthol (1-for-4) had one hit each.
The Ragin' Cajuns were led offensively by the middle of the lineup in Heath Hood (2-for-4, 2B, BB, 2 runs) with two base hits and Conor Higgs (1-for-4, 2B, BB, RBI) with the lone RBI.
The Chanticleers stranded five runners on base, while the Cajuns left seven on the pond.
Bodine put the Chants on top 1-0 in the very first inning with a solo home run, his sixth of his freshman campaign.
Eikhoff pitched around a single in the second inning and a double in the third frame but couldn't get out of the fourth inning unscathed, as the Cajuns' Higgs ripped an RBI double to right-center field to tie the game up at 1-1.
While the Coastal offense struggled to string together hits at the plate, the Ragin' Cajuns took the lead in the sixth inning on a double, a walk, and Coastal fielding error to plate a run on a 4-6-3 double play to pull in front at 2-1 with three innings to play.
That's where the score would stand going into the top of the ninth inning.
The Chants (28-14, 15-6 Sun Belt) will return home for a four-game home-stand starting on Tuesday, May 2, versus the Charlotte 49ers (22-20) at 6 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.
