CONWAY, S.C. — No. 19 Coastal Carolina wrapped up a dominant weekend with a 10-1 victory over Appalachian State on Sunday afternoon at Springs Brooks Stadium, completing the series sweep and extending its Sun Belt Conference winning streak to 12 games.
The Chanticleers (37-11, 20-4 SBC) rode a balanced offensive attack and four strong innings from reliever
Matthew Potok to win their 12th straight league contest and improve to 20-4 in conference play. The game included a weather delay of 1 hour and 59 minutes in the third inning, but it did little to slow down Coastal's momentum.
After taking a 2-0 lead in the first, the Chants broke it open with a four-run sixth inning, highlighted by a two-run single from designated hitter
Domenico Tozzi and an RBI double by
Blagen Pado. Pado finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs, including a two-run homer in the third inning following the weather delay.
Potok (2-1) earned the win with four innings of relief coming out of the delay, allowing one run on three hits with four strikeouts.
Riley Eikhoff started, struck out two and worked three scoreless frames with only 27 pitches, getting a no decision in what was shaping up to be another quality start.
Darin Horn and
Dominick Carbone each tossed a scoreless inning to close it out.
Appalachian State (21-26, 11-13 SBC) managed just one run, a solo homer by Juan Correa in the seventh, as Coastal pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts and allowed only one walk.
NOTEBOOK
- Series Sweep & Streaking: With Sunday's win, Coastal Carolina secured its sixth consecutive Sun Belt series win and completed its seventh series sweep of the season. The Chanticleers have now won 12 straight conference games, their longest streak since 2010.
- Pado Produces: Blagen Pado continued his hot stretch at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double, home run and three RBIs.
- Balanced Attack: Eight different Chanticleers recorded hits, and six drove in at least one run. Coastal drew 10 walks and stole four bases, including two from Sebastian Alexander, who also scored twice.
- Weather Delay: The game was delayed nearly two hours due to weather, beginning in the top of the third inning at 1:46 p.m. ET and resuming at 3:45 p.m.
- Pitching Efficiency: Coastal's bullpen trio of Potok, Horn and Carbone combined for seven innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts and no walks.
- Up Next: The Chanticleers will go for the season sweep against No. 3 Clemson Tuesday and look to break the single-game attendance record for Springs Brooks Stadium. Reserved season has been sold out for weeks and a limited amount of berm seating is available online. The two teams will start things up at 6 p.m. ET with coverage on ESPN+ and the Chanticleer Sports Network via the Chanticleer Mobile App.