HUNTINGTON, W.V. – The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers completed the sweep of the Marshall Thundering Herd with a 9-5 win on Saturday afternoon in Huntington, W.V., in the 2024 regular-season Sun Belt Conference series finale for both teams.
The Chants await the doubleheader between the Troy Trojans and James Madison Dukes to find out what seed they will be for the SBC tournament. With a Trojan sweep, Coastal is the No. 6 seed, while a win by the Dukes in either game will give the Chants the No. 7 seed.
CCU (33-21, 16-14 SBC) was led by
Caden Bodine (2-for-5, 2B, R, 3RBI) and
Graham Brown (2-for-5, 2RBI) with multiple hits at the plate,
Derek Bender,
Blake Barthol,
Jake Books, and
Zack Beach added one hit each in the win.
Cameron Flukey (3-2) worked 5.0 innings and allowed three runs on six hits with seven strikeouts, while
Dominick Carbone,
Trevor Hinkel, and
Alexander Meckley worked 1.1 innings each.
Marshall's Gio Ferraro (2-for-4, 2RBI) had two of the Herd's eight hits, while Elijah Vogelsong, Tre Hondras, Calin Smith, Cam Harthan, Caden Kaiser, and Owen Ayers had one hit apiece. Griffin Miller (3-3) took the loss, allowing four runs on just two hits with four strikeouts in 5.0 innings, while Nick Jodway, Peyton Schofield, and Chad Heiner gave up a combined five runs on five hits over the final four innings.
The Thundering Herd drew first blood in the bottom of the first inning on singles by Harthan and Ferraro put runners on the corners before both runners advanced on a passed ball to give the home-standing Herd a 1-0 lead.
After a scoreless second inning, Coastal took its first lead of the game after
Dean Mihos was hit by a pitch and moved to third on a double down the left-field line to put runners on second and third.
Ty Dooley drove in the first run with an RBI groundout to first before
Sam Antonacci drove in Books with a sac fly to make the score 2-1. However, Marshall tied it up at 2-2 on a solo home run to right field by Ayers.
Both pitchers worked 1-2-3 innings in the fourth before the Thundering Herd took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning as Smith doubled down the left-field line, while Hondras singled to left to score Smith.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Chants got back-to-back walks to force Marshall to bring in reliever Jodway. CCU's Bodine doubled down the right-field line to score Dooley before Bender singled to plate Antonacci and Bodine to make the score 5-3.
Coastal added three insurance runs in the top of the seventh as
Corey Zientek, Dooley, and Antonacci reached on hit-by-pitch, walk, and hit-by-pitch before Brown singled to right to score Dooley and Zientek. Bodine followed with a single to score Antonacci and give CCU an 8-3 advantage.
In the top of the ninth, the Chanticleers' Antonacci drew his second walk of the day before advancing to third on a single by Brown. Bodine drove in his third run of the game with a groundout to second to plate Antonacci to make the score 9-3.
Marshall's Kaiser singled to left to lead off the home half of the frame and advanced to second on Vogelsong's single through the right side. A wild pitch allowed both runners to move to second and third before Cabrera's groundout to third scored Kaiser from third. Vogelsong scored on a second wild pitch in the inning for the final margin of 9-5.
Coastal Carolina will travel to Montgomery, Ala., for the 2024 Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship beginning on Tuesday, May 21.
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.
