RALEIGH, N.C. – The No. 13 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers fell 9-8 to the NC State Wolfpack in Raleigh, N.C., in Coastal's first road contest of the season. With the loss, the Chanticleers drop to 17-4 overall, while the Wolfpack improve to 13-6 on the year.
Coastal Carolina took the early lead in the top of the first as
Sam Antonacci (1-for-5, R) singled to left to lead off the game and advanced to second and third on walks to
Derek Bender (1-for-4, BB, R) and
Caden Bodine (1-for-4, BB, 2 R). With two outs,
Graham Brown (1-for-4, HR R, 4 RBIs) stepped to the plate and smacked a 2-0 pitch over the left-center field wall to lead 4-0.
The Wolfpack answered in the home half of the frame to trail 4-2 on back-to-back home runs by Alec Makarewicz (2-for-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBIs) and Jacob Cozart (1-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI).
After both pitchers worked around one-out walks in the third, NC State tied the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth as Pennington led off with the third home run of the game for the Wolfpack and an RBI single by Alex Sosa (2-for-4, 2 RBIs) to score Makarewicz. CCU's
Hayden Johnson (3.2 IP, H, 2 R, 3 Ks) relieved starter
Josh O'Neill to get the final out of the fourth inning.
Coastal retook the lead as
Jake Books (2-for-3, HR, 2 R, RBI) hit a solo shot to the Wolfpack's bullpen to lead 5-4 at the end of the sixth inning off NC State reliever Shane Van Dam. Van Dam took over for Ryan Marohn who settled down after the first-inning grand slam to hold the CCU offense to one hit after the first.
However, the Wolfpack answered with four runs in the bottom of the seventh. The Chants' Johnson retired 11 straight batters before giving up a walk and single before being lifted. NC State's Luke Nixon scored on a wild pitch with Josh Hogue advancing to second. Eli Serrano III (1-for-4, 2 RBIs) singled to left to score Garrett Pennington (2-for-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBIs) and Hogue with Sosa plating the final run of the inning with a single to right field to score Cozart.
Coastal answered in the top of the eighth inning off Wolfpack reliever P.J. Labriola as Bodine and
Zack Beach reached base on singles and a walk to Books loaded the bases.
Corey Zientek then walked to score Bodine. After an NC State pitching change to Hollis Fanning (2-0), who got the win,
Ty Dooley tied the game up with a two-out single to right to plate Beach and Books to make the score 8-8.
The Chanticleers'
Bryce Shaffer (1-2) came in to pitch and hit the first batter he faced before picking him off at first. NC State's Hogue worked a four-pitch walk before scoring on a double to left by Pennington to give the Pack a 9-8 win.
Coastal Carolina will travel to Boone, N.C., for a Sun Belt Conference three-game series with Appalachian State beginning on Friday, March 22, at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium with a 6 p.m. ET scheduled first pitch. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
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.
