MONROE, LA. – The No. 19 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers dropped an 11-3 SBC series opener to the ULM Warhawks in Monroe, La. The Chants moved to 18-7 overall and 3-4 in league play, while ULM improved to 14-12 on the season and 3-4 in conference action.
Coastal starter
Alexander Meckley (3-1) took his first loss of the season going 4.0 innings, allowing eight runs on nine hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Andrew Bowers pitched 2.2 innings, scattering four hits and allowing two runs.
The Chants'
Derek Bender (1-for-4, K, RBI) extended his hit streak to 14 straight games with an RBI single, while
Sam Antonacci (1-for-4, BB, R) with a walk has reached base in all 25 games he has appeared.
Blake Barthol (1-for-5, RBI) reached his reaching base safely for a 23rd straight game.
Jake Books (2-for-4, 2B, RBI) and
Dean Mihos (2-for-2, BB, R) were the only Chants with multiple hits.
ULM's Shawn Dalton Weatherbee (4-for-5, 2B, 2R, 5RBIs) had four hits for the first time in his career to lead the offense. Colby Lunsford (3-for-4, BB, 2R, RBI), Kade Dupont (2-for-3, HBP, 3Rs), Jake Haggard (1-for-4, 2B, R, 3RBIs), Cardell Thibodeaux (1-for-4, RBI), and Matt Abshire (1-for-5, RBI) aided Weatherbee with RBIs.
The Warhawks pitching staff held the CCU offense to just two runs on 10 hits. ULM starter Cam Barlow (1-1) worked 5.0 innings, giving up one on five hits and a walk. Barlow tallied seven of the Warhawks' nine strikeouts. Joey Cirelli worked 3.0 innings, giving up one run on five hits with two strikeouts for his first save of the year.
After both teams went scoreless in the first two innings, the Warhawks opened the scoring with five runs in the home half of the third. ULM's Dupont led off the frame by being hit by a pitch before advancing to third on Lunsford's single. Weatherbee plated Dupont to give the host team the 1-0 lead. Haggard doubled down the right field line to make it 3-0 for the Warhawks, which was followed by a sacrifice fly by Thibodeaux and an RBI single by Abshire to make the score 5-0 for ULM.
The Warhawks added three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on a two RBI double by Weatherbee and a sacrifice fly by Haggard to make the score 8-0.
Coastal's Mihos led off the top of the fifth frame with a single to left field and advanced to second on a ground out to first. Bender scored Mihos from second with a single to left to make the score 8-1. After holding the Warhawks scoreless, CCU cut the deficit to 8-2 as Books doubled down the left field line to score
Graham Brown from first.
ULM added to its tally in the home half of the seventh inning after a pair of walks loaded the bases before Lunsford earned a walk to plate the first run of the inning. Weatherbee singled through the left side to score the final two runs for the Warhawks to take an 11-2 lead.
Coastal wrapped up the scoring in the top of the ninth as Antonacci singled to right field before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Barthol plated Antonacci with a single to left for the final score of 11-3 for ULM.
Coastal Carolina will return to action as the Chanticleers will play ULM in Monroe, La., for game two of the Sun Belt Conference series with a 7 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.
