HUNTINGTON, W.VA. – Coastal Carolina left-handed pitcher Henry Weycker stifled the Marshall Thundering Herd in a 12-2 10-run rule eight-inning win on Friday afternoon in Huntington, W.V., as the Chants clinched the Sun Belt Conference series. With the win, the Chanticleers improved to 32-21 overall and 15-14 in SBC action, while the Herd fell to 18-36 on the season and 9-20 in the conference.
 
CCU was led by Caden Bodine (3-for-5, 2 2B, 3R, 2RBI), Graham Brown (2-for-3, BB, 3R), Derek Bender (2-for-3, 2B, R, RBI), Blake Barthol (2-for-3, BB, R, 2RBI), and Dean Mihos (2-for-3, 2HBP, R) with multiple hits in the win. Weycker (3-1) pitched 6.1 innings and allowed two runs on two hits and four walks with six strikeouts, while Will Smith worked 1.2 innings, allowing no runs on no hits while striking out three batters.
 
Marshall's Gio Ferraro (1-for-2, 2RBI) and Cam Harthan (1-for-4, R, RBI) had the Herd's two hits. Bryce Blevins (3-5) took the loss allowing seven runs on eight hits with four strikeouts in 6.0 innings, while Alex McKay gave up four runs on three hits and Cole Agemy gave up one run on one hit over the final two innings.
 
Coastal took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Brown singled to left and advanced to third on the first double of the day for Bodine. Bender's sacrifice fly to left field scored Brown and was followed by an RBI single by Barthol to score Bodine.
 
In the home half of the frame, Marshall's Harthan singled to left center and moved to second on Owen Ayers's walk. Harthan stole third before scoring on a sac fly to cut the deficit in half at 2-1.
 
After a scoreless second inning, the Chants' Brown led off the third by getting hit by a pitch and advanced to third on Bodine's second double of the day. Bender and Barthol plated Brown and Bodine on back-to-back sac flies to make the score 4-1. The Thundering Herd started the bottom of the third with a leadoff walk before Ferraro hit a two-out single up the middle to score Tre Hondras from second base to cut the lead in half at 4-2.
 
Both pitchers matched three up and three down innings in the fourth and fifth before Coastal added three runs in the top of the sixth with the first four batters getting singles to load the bases. Zack Beach drew a walk to score Bender from third before Corey Zientek hit the fourth sacrifice fly of the game for Coastal to give the Chants a 6-2 lead. Ty Dooley reached on a sac bunt attempt to score Mihos to make the score 7-2. Weycker continued shutting down the Marshall batters having not allowed a base runner since the bottom of the third.
 
After a scoreless seventh inning, CCU's Zientek led off the eighth by getting hit and promptly stole second base, and advanced to third on a miscue by the defense. A balk by the Herd allowed Zientek to score to make the score 8-2. The Chants then loaded the bases on a hit-by-pitch, a single, and a walk before Bodine singled to center field to plate Dooley and Antonacci. Brown scored from first on an error by the Marshall defense as Bodine moved to third. Barthol and Mihos loaded the bases on a walk and a hit-by-pitch followed by Beach scoring Bodine from third with a sac fly to left field for the final margin of 12-2. The Chanticleers' Smith pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth to wrap up the game.
 
Coastal will remain in Huntington for the 2024 regular-season finale on Saturday, May 18, with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. ET at Jack Cook Field. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard on WRNN 99.5 Hot Talk.
 
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