MONTGOMERY, ALA. – The No. 7 seed Coastal Carolina Chanticleers were defeated 6-3 by the No. 6 seed Appalachian State Mountaineers in an elimination game of the 2024 Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship presented by Troy University in Montgomery, Ala., on Thursday morning.
 
The Chanticleers (34-23) were led by Graham Brown (3-for-5, 2 2B, R), Caden Bodine (1-for-4, 2B), Derek Bender (1-for-4, SF, RBI), Zack Beach (1-for-5, 2B) and Jake Books (1-for-4, HR, R, RBI) at the plate. Cameron Flukey worked 4.1 innings, and allowed two runs on three hits with four strikeouts, while Bryce Shaffer (3-6) suffered the loss allowing three runs on one hit and no walks in 1.1 innings pitched. Josh O'Neill worked 1.2 innings, giving up no runs on no hits with three strikeouts.
 
At the plate for the Mountaineers (32-20-1), Drew Holderbach (2-for-3, HBP, HR, 2R, 3RBI), Banks Tolley (2-for-4, 2B, 2RBI), and CJ Boyd (1-for-4) had all of the App State's five hits as Austin St. Laurent, Hunter Wilder, and Joseph Zamora reached on hit-by-pitch. On the mound, Jackson Steensma did not play into the decision, and gave up one hit and no runs with five strikeouts in 2.0 innings, before leaving due to injury. Grey LaSpaluto pitched 2.0 innings with two runs on three hits while Cody Little (2-2) earned the win, allowing two hits and one run with three strikeouts in 3.0 innings. Zach Lewis worked the final frame for his fourth save of the season.
 
In the top of the first inning, Coastal's Bodine hit a two-out double down the right-field line to give the Chants a scoring opportunity but was unable to cash it in. The Mountaineers put runners on first and second in the bottom of the frame on two-out singles by Tolley and Boyd before CCU's Flukey escaped with a groundout to the shortstop.
 
The Chants put runners in scoring position in both the second and third innings after the leadoff hitter reached on a walk and hit-by-pitch but CCU could not capitalize.
 
Coastal's Blake Barthol drew the second of four walks on the day to start the fourth and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Dean Mihos. Beach doubled to left field to put runners on second and third before a sac fly by Ty Barrango to plate Barthol to give the Chants a 1-0 lead.
 
The Chanticleers added a run in the top of the fifth frame as Brown doubled down the left-field line and scored two batters later on a sac fly to center field to score Brown.
 
Appalachian State answered in the bottom of the inning with a sacrifice fly to cut the CCU lead in half at 2-1 as Wilder was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a failed pickoff attempt as the throw rolled down the right field line. A wild pitch allowed Wilder to move to third before a second hit-by-pitch of the inning. St. Laurent hit a deep fly to right to score Wilder from third after a hit-by-pitch Tolley followed with a long single off the top of the left-field wall to plate Zamora and Holderbach to give the Mountaineers a 3-2 advantage.
 
Coastal responded in the top of the sixth inning as Books homered to right field with two outs to make the score 3-3.
 
In the top of the seventh, the Chants looked to retake the lead as they loaded the bases as Brown led off the inning with his second two-bagger of the day. After a groundout advanced him to third, Barthol walked and Mihos was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs but could not capitalize.
 
The Mountaineers' Wilder reached on a throwing error by the Chanticleer defense and moved to second on a groundout. St. Laurent reached via hit-by-pitch before Holderbach launched a three-run home run to left field to give App State a 6-3 lead.
 
With the meat of the lineup due in the top of the ninth, CCU's Bodine led off with a walk and advanced to second on a single by Bender. A walk to Barthol loaded the bases with no outs before the Mountaineers' Lewis escaped the threat with a strikeout and a double play to end the hope of a come-from-behind win for the Chants.
 
Coastal Carolina will find out its fate for the NCAA Tournament during the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, May 27, at noon.
 
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