CONWAY, S.C. –
Blake Barthol hit three home runs to lead the No. 18 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers to a 19-6 win over Big 10 foe Michigan at Springs Brooks Stadium on Saturday evening. With the win, the Chants improve to 13-2 on the season, while the Wolverines drop to 5-10 with the loss.
CCU's
Alexander Meckley (2-0, 3.05 ERA) got the win as the junior from Gettysburg, Pa., went 5.0 innings, allowing two hits and a run while striking out five batters. Michigan's Chase Allen (2-1) picked up his first loss of the year by going 2.1 innings, allowing nine runs on six hits while walking three batters.
Coastal jumped to the early lead as Barthol (3-of-4, 3HR, 3R, 6RBIs) knocked his first home run of the day, a two-run blast to left field in the bottom of the first for a 2-0 lead.
Graham Brown (3-of-5, HR, 2B, 2R, 3RBIs) hit a two-out double to score
Derek Bender (1-of-4, BB, R) from third to make it 3-0 at the end of the first.
After a leadoff double by Jonathan Kim, who advanced on a failed pick-off attempt, Bradley Navarro scored Kim from third on a ground out to second. The Chants pushed their lead back to three as
Corey Zientek doubled down the left field line and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by
Ty Dooley before scoring on a wild pitch to give Coastal a 3-1 lead at the end of the second inning.
The visitors went down in order in the top of the third just to see the Chanticleers explode for seven runs to break the game open. CCU's
Zack Beach walked and moved to second on Brown's single to left center before
Jake Books walked to load the bases with one out. A Zientek walk scored Beach and was followed by Dooley getting hit by a pitch to give Coastal a 5-1 advantage.
Sam Antonacci smacked a two-run double to score Zientek and Books before Barthol blasted a three-run drive to left-center to give the Chanticleers an 11-1 lead.
Barthol added a solo shot, his fourth home run in two games, to left field to give the home team a 12-1 lead at the end of the fifth inning.
Michigan's Stephen Hrustich drove a shot down the left field line after a leadoff walk to cut the deficit to 12-3 in the top of the sixth. The Chants answered with a run in the home half of the sixth as
Sebastian Alexander scored on a wild pitch after stealing second and third.
The Wolverines added a solo home run by Kyle Dernedde to trail 13-4 before Coastal's Brown hit a two-run homer to left field to make it 15-4 in favor of the Chants.
CCU closed out the home scoring in the bottom of the eighth as
Brice Estep singled to third to score Antonacci and
Ty Barrango.
Bobby Atkinson followed with a single through the right side to score
Walker Mitchell and Estep scored on a ground out by Alexander to make the score 19-4.
Michigan's Joe Longo punched a two-run home run down the right-field line for the final score of 19-6.
Coastal Carolina will wrap up the Michigan series on Sunday, March 10, at Springs Brooks Stadium with a 1 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.
