CONWAY, S.C. – Caden Bodine, Sam Antonacci, and Zack Beach sparked Coastal Carolina baseball's offense as the Chants exploded for 26 runs to claim a 26-0 win over the George Mason Patriots in the season opener for both teams.
 
The Chanticleers (1-0) got a strong outing by opening day starter Riley Eikhoff picked up his first win of the season, as the redshirt junior pitched 6.0 scoreless innings while striking out three Patriots and allowing just one base runner to pick up his first win of the season. Hayden Johnson pitched the final 3.0 innings striking out four batters and allowing one hit.
 
George Mason (0-1) allowed 26 runs on 15 hits as Chad Gartland went just 2.2 innings, giving up 12 runs, walking six batters, and striking out just one hitter. Derek Wood recorded the lone hit for Mason with two outs in the ninth inning.
 
After a quick 1-2-3 top of the first for Eikhoff, the Coastal offense banged in six runs in the bottom half. Bodine (3-for-4, 3 RBI, 2 BB) followed an Antonacci (3-for-3, 3 RBI, 2 BB) walk with his first double of the day to open the scoring by driving in Antonacci. After a pair of walks to Derek Bender (2-for-6, 6 RBI, 1 BB) and Beach (2-for-3, 2 RBI, 2 BB), Bodine was forced home to make it 2-0 after Graham Brown was hit by a pitch. Jake Books hit a grand slam down the left-field line to make it 6-0 at the end of the first inning.
 
The Chanticleer defense held firm to keep Mason hitless before exploding for seven runs, as Blake Barthol singled to spark another scoring barrage in the bottom of the third. With two outs, the Chants offense struck again as Dean Mihos, Ty Dooley, and Bodine all reached via walks. Barthol and Mihos then scored on Antonacci's single to left field. Bender added four more with Coastal's second grand slam, which was followed by a solo home run by Beach to make it 13-0 at the end of the third inning.
 
Coastal's Eikhoff continued his strong outing with three consecutive 1-2-3 innings as the Chants plated the final seven runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings.
 
The Chanticleers return to action on Saturday at the Baseball at the Beach tournament as they host the Indiana Hoosiers in the second game of the day, with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.
 
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