OMAHA, NEB. – The No. 13 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers fell to the Creighton Blue Jays 7-3 in the first game of a two-game series in Omaha, Neb., Tuesday night. With the loss, the Chanticleers fall to 27-13 on the season, while the Blue Jays improve to 29-9 overall.
Coastal was led by
Graham Brown (2-for-4, R, RBI),
Zack Beach (1-for-3, BB, RBI),
Jake Books (1-for-3, RBI),
Dean Mihos (1-for-2, 2BB), and
Derek Bender (1-for-5) as they combined for the six Chanticleer hits. On the mound, starter
Josh O'Neill worked 2.0 innings, allowing two runs on one hit and a walk while striking out three batters. Reliever
Henry Weycker allowed one run on three hits and two walks with six strikeouts over 2.2 innings.
Hayden Johnson (1-2) took the loss and allowed one run on one hit and one walk in 0.1 innings.
The Blue Jays offense was paced by Nolan Clifford (3-for-4, BB, HR, R, 3RBIs), Nolan Sailors (2-for-4, BB, 2Rs, RBI), and Will MacLean (1-for-3, 2RBIs). The Creighton pitching staff allowed three first-inning runs, all charged to Shea Wendt, who worked 2.0 innings, giving up three runs on four hits and one walk with two strikeouts. Reliever Cade Lommel pitched 3.1 innings, allowing no runs on just two hits and two walks while striking out six batters. Tommy Lamb (4-0) threw 1.2 innings, giving up no hits and no runs to pick up his fourth win of the season.
CCU's
Sam Antonacci led off the game getting hit by a pitch to reach base in his 40th consecutive game this season and advanced to second on a groundout by Bender. Brown singled to center field to score Antonacci and moved Bodine to second. Beach and Books followed with back-to-back singles to plate Bodine and Brown to give the Chanticleers a 3-0 lead.
The Blue Jays' Sailors led off the home half of the first with a walk before scoring on Clifford's two-run home run over the right-field wall to make the score 3-2.
In the third, Creighton tied the score at 3-3 after a Sailors single to left field and a walk to Teddy Deters to put runners on first and second. MacLean singled to right field to plate Sailors from second to knot the score.
The Blue Jays threatened in the bottom of the fifth with runners on second and third with two outs before CCU reliever
Will Smith struck out the only batter he faced.
Coastal put runners on the corners in the top of the sixth inning as Mihos and
Ty Dooley drew one-out walks before CU's Lamb recorded the final two outs to get out of the jam and keep the game tied at 3-3.
Creighton plated the go--ahead run in the home half of the seventh as Kyle Hess led off with a single to left center before advancing to second on a groundout by Sailors. Back-to-back walks to Clifford and Deters loaded the bases before MacLean drove in his second run of the game to give the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead.
The Blue Jays exploded in the bottom of the eighth as Cuyler Zukowski reached on the only miscue of the game for either team. Ben North walked to put runners on first and second before Hogan Helligso doubled down the left-field line to score Zukowski from second and move North to third. Sailors singled to center to score North and Clifford singled through the right side to plate Helligso for the final run of the game and a 7-3 victory.
The Chanticleers will wrap up the two-game series on Wednesday, April 24, with the first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on both days. The game will be streamed on FloBaseball or can be heard on WRNN 99.5 Hot Talk.
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.
