HUNTINGTON, W.VA. – The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers knocked off the Marshall Thundering Herd 6-3 on Thursday evening in Huntington, W.V., for the Chants' eighth straight win over the Herd. With the win, the Chanticleers improved to 31-21 on the season and 14-14 in Sun Belt action, while Marshall dropped to 18-35 overall and 9-19 in league play with the loss.
Due to the threat of inclement weather in the area, Friday's game has been moved to 3 p.m. ET.
CCU was led by
Sam Antonacci (2-for-4, HBP, HR, 2R, RBI),
Zack Beach (1-for-4, HR, 2R, 2RBI),
Caden Bodine (1-for-4, 2B, R, RBI),
Blake Barthol (1-for-4, 2B, R, RBI), and
Dean Mihos (1-for-3) at the plate in the win.
Riley Eikhoff, who did not factor in the decision, pitched 4.0 innings and allowed two runs on six hits with two strikeouts, while
Bryce Shaffer (2-5) worked 5.0 innings, allowing a run on four hits while striking out three batters.
Marshall's Owen Ayers (3-for-4, 2 2B, R), Elijah Vogelsong (2-for-3, 2B, 3B, R), and Caden Kaiser (2-for-4, R, RBI) had seven of the Herd's 10 hits. Drew Harlow (6-7) took the loss pitched 8.1 innings, allowing six runs on six hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts.
Coastal threatened in the top of the first inning with Antonacci and
Graham Brown reaching on a leadoff single and a hit-by-pitch before Antonacci advanced to third on a fly out by Bodine. With one out, Bender drew a walk to load the bases before Marshall's Harlow got a double play to end the threat.
The Thundering Herd put runners on second and third with a single and double by Cam Harthan and Ayers before Eikhoff enticed a double play and struck out Kaiser to escape unscathed.
In the top of the second inning, the Chanticleers struck first with Beach reaching on a wild pitch on strike three before Mihos advanced Beach with a sac bunt. After a wild pitch moved Beach to third,
Corey Zientek scored Beach on a sacrifice fly to left to give Coastal a 1-0 lead.
In the home half of the frame, the Herd's Vogelsong hit a one-out triple to right center with Murdoch grounding out to short to plate Vogelsong to tie the score at 1-1.
Coastal retook the lead in the top of the third when Antonacci led off by getting hit by a pitch and scored on a one-out double by Bodine to make the score 2-1. Barthol followed with a two-out double to score Bodine before Beach homered to right center to give the Chants a 5-1 lead.
In the bottom of the third inning, Ayers hit his second double of the night and scored on a single by Kaiser to cut the deficit to 5-2.
Both teams were held scoreless in the fourth and fifth innings before Marshall cut the lead to 5-3 in the sixth inning after a single by Kaiser, who scored on the double to left center by AJ Havrilla.
The Chants added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning as Antonacci drove his fourth home run of the season over the right-field fence to make the score 6-3.
CCU's Shaffer worked the seventh and eighth innings 1-2-3 with the only runner getting doubled up on a 4-6-3 double play in the bottom of the eighth. In the ninth inning, the Thundering Herd put a runner on second before Shaffer closed out the game for his second win of the year.
Coastal will remain in Huntington for game two on Friday, May 17, with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. ET at Jack Cook Field. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and 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.
