Frustration mounts for Gilmore as No. 18 Coastal Carolina falls at North Carolina

Coastal Carolina went nearly a full month without losing back-to-back games, but the college baseball season is simply too long not to deliver its share of hiccups and setbacks.

And the Chanticleers’ pitching was simply too wild and ineffective Tuesday night to help the team get the bounce-back win it was looking for in another tough midweek test.

Coastal Carolina pitchers issued a season-high 11 walks and North Carolina took full advantage of that extra help while earning a 9-3 win over the No. 18-ranked Chants before an announced crowd of 940 at Boshamer Stadium.

“It hurts because we came out so flat in a game that meant so much to us,” sophomore shortstop Michael Paez said. “We took pride in bouncing back from losses and to play like this here is just upsetting.”

The Tar Heels (19-13) won the rematch after losing 13-2 to Coastal Carolina on March 10 in Conway, which was part of a stretch of 14 wins in 15 games for the Chants (23-9) before they squandered a ninth-inning lead Saturday in a loss to Longwood and stumbled again Tuesday for their first back-to-back defeats since March 7-8.

And despite all that recent success, these more recent struggles have been enough to leave coach Gary Gilmore concerned.

He gathered the team in the outfield after the game while conveying that message to the players before sharing his thoughts publicly.

“That’s the team I watched win 24 games last year,” Gilmore said, referring to the program’s uncharacteristic 24-33 finish in 2014. “That’s who they are at this moment in time. I don’t care what we’ve accomplished. The last two games, that’s who we are. We’ll see.”

Freshman left-hander Shane Sawczak (1-2) took the loss, giving up four runs on four hits and three walks in three innings.

He was pulled after yielding a leadoff walk followed by an RBI double to Zack Gahagan in the fourth as the Tar Heels took a 3-2 lead. Junior reliever Tyler Poole then allowed the inherited runner to score on an RBI single by Logan Warmoth, but he struck out Skye Bolt and got Landon Lassiter to fly out to strand the bases loaded and keep it a 4-2 game.

When Paez led off the fifth inning with his sixth home run of the season to make it 4-3, it looked like the Chants might swing their way back into yet another game.

Instead, Coastal Carolina didn’t score again and North Carolina kept piling onto its lead.

Poole ended up issuing five walks over two innings, albeit while managing not to give up another run. But the Tar Heels picked up two more runs in the sixth as sophomore Cole Schaefer lasted just three batters, giving up two hits and a walk along with a balk.

Bolt plated one with an RBI single and Tyler Ramirez added an RBI single off junior reliever Brock Hunter to make it 6-3.

Things got worse for the Chants in the eighth as the Tar Heels sent eight batters to the plate and added three more runs on an Alex Raburn RBI sacrifice bunt, a Korey Dunbar RBI single and a Warmoth sac fly.

The Chants’ 11 walks issued, including two intentional free passes, were one shy of the program record of 12.

“We need a pitcher or two to step up and pitch a good ballgame for us,” Gilmore said. “And ... we need to learn to win when we don’t hit the ball out of the park. I’ve said it all year long. We got a solo home run tonight, but we haven’t strung like two hits together.”

Pate was 3-for-4 with a homer and three runs scored to lead North Carolina and Ramirez was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run.

Junior centerfielder Anthony Marks was 2-for-4 for Coastal Carolina while Paez and freshman Al Molina had the team’s lone RBIs.

Reliever Spencer Trayner (2-3) was credited with the win despite allowing one run in just 2/3 of an inning.

The Chants had been 5-0 against ACC teams this season before the loss and will look to regroup with a Big South series this weekend at High Point.

“Hopefully with AC [throwing] on Friday, he’s been our best guy, he hasn’t lost yet, so when he’s on the mound we come out firing,” Paez said of sophomore pitcher Alex Cunningham. “It might take that little [boost] to get us back to where we were.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2015 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Frustration mounts for Gilmore as No. 18 Coastal Carolina falls at North Carolina."