Radford takes pivotal Big South series from Chanticleers

Coach Gary Gilmore was a bit cryptic with his comments after seeing his Coastal Carolina baseball team drop a key series-deciding game to Radford on Sunday to finish off a tough week for the suddenly slumping Chanticleers.

“I know the answers to a whole lot of things I’m not willing to share,” is how Gilmore put it in his postgame media session.

After the teams traded narrow victories to start the pivotal three-game series with first place in the Big South at stake, Radford took full control Sunday while taking advantage of three Coastal Carolina errors and eight walks on the way to a 7-1 win over the No. 18-ranked Chants on a wet and gloomy day at Springs Brooks Stadium.

The teams had entered the series tied atop the conference standings, which Radford (25-13, 12-3 Big South) now leads while the Chants (27-12, 11-4) try to regroup following three losses in four games this past week.

“As long as there’s games on the schedule, we just have to move on,” Gilmore said. “I can’t get this one back. Like I said, I have a whole lot of the answers to the problems that we have. I just don’t know that the answer I have is the one anybody wants to hear.”

The Chants have shown significant improvement this season after a down 2014 campaign and have flashed tremendous upside while climbing to their highest national ranking since 2010 and putting together an impressive collection of notable wins along the way.

Even after some recent victories, though, Gilmore has shared his frustrations in the game-to-game ebb and flow he sees from his team.

The Chants had won 14 out of 15 games at one point, but they’re just 4-5 since.

After dropping a 4-3 loss in the series opener Friday when the winning run scored in the ninth inning on a wild pitch, Coastal Carolina bounced back to post a 3-2 win on Saturday.

Sunday brought only frustration for the team, though.

Radford went up 1-0 in the second inning when Patrick Marshall drew a lead-off walk, took third on Hunter Higgerson’s double to right-center field and then scored on an error by junior third baseman Zach Remillard.

And in the top of the third inning, the Highlanders tacked on five more runs.

It started when Josh Gardiner and Shane Johnsonbaugh led off with back-to-back walks and Josh Reavis reached on a bunt as freshman pitcher Shane Sawczak committed an error trying to field the ball. With the bases loaded, Marshall then walked to plate a run and Higgerson followed with a two-run double.

After getting one out, Sawczak was replaced by junior reliever Tyler Poole, who gave up a two-run single to Aaron Scoville to make it 6-0. Poole then issued two walks of his own before striking out Gardiner and getting Johnsonbaugh to ground out to strand the bases loaded and prevent any more damage.

But that was already more than the Chants could overcome on this day.

Mitchell Mackeith (5-3) scattered four hits and three walks while allowing only one run in 7 1/3 innings to get the win for Radford. Higgerson led the Highlanders offensively, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a run.

“We did some things for two days that were halfway decent and today we weren’t very good at much of anything,” Gilmore said. “So you just deal with it. We’re about one inch away from winning the first two games and we’re one inch away from losing all three of them. So it is what it is.”

Sophomore G.K. Young was 2-for-3 with a run scored and freshman Billy Cooke was 1-for-3 with an RBI for the Chants.

Sawczak (1-3) took the loss, giving up two hits, four walks and six runs (four earned) in 2 1/3 innings.

“We have to just try to figure out how we were playing six weeks ago and find that bat speed and that ability to play and things like that we don’t possess right at this moment,” Gilmore said. “I’m not quite sure how I magically make that happen.”

The Chants’ lone run Sunday came in the eighth inning on a single by Cooke, who returned to action this weekend after breaking the hamate bone in his left hand in the season opener.

Cooke’s return to center field moved junior lead-off hitter Anthony Marks back to left field, which is a position that hasn’t delivered much production for the Chants.

Cooke said he felt 100 percent in his return, but the outcome Sunday spoiled any personal satisfaction from picking up his first collegiate hit.

“It felt good. It [hurts] that we lost a series. I really wish we could have won. That’s really all that matters,” he said. “It’s all about winning so it is what it is. We’ll get back at it next week.”

The Chants play their next eight games on the road, starting Wednesday with a rematch at College of Charleston before heading to Presbyterian for a weekend conference series.

Coastal Carolina is tied for second in the Big South standings with Liberty now, and just being in the hunt at this point is not good enough, Gilmore said Sunday.

“In this program, anything less than first is failure,” he said. “That’s the program we’ve had for a long time and that’s where it is right now. That’s how I feel.”

Notes

▪ A day after getting into a heated face-to-face exchange with Radford coach Joe Raccuia between the Chants’ dugout and the third base line in the first inning Saturday, Gilmore said there was no lingering issue between the two and simply chalked it up to both coaches being fired up by some controversial calls in the field.

“We’re very good friends,” Gilmore said. “I think the way that game started, just controversy, etc., kind of got everybody on edge. When I go out recruiting, I sit with him. We’re very good friends. Just both competitive.”

▪ Marks had his 16-game hitting streak snapped as well as a streak of 27 straight games reaching base. Sophomore shortstop Michael Paez had an 11-game hitting streak end Sunday, but he drew two walks and has now reached base in 22 consecutive games and 37 of his 38 games this season.

This story was originally published April 19, 2015 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Radford takes pivotal Big South series from Chanticleers."