Chants power past UNC Wilmington for fourth straight win

Trying to find a way to spark his team, Coastal Carolina baseball coach Gary Gilmore made an open-ended deal with the players during the Chanticleers’ series at Presbyterian last weekend that he would run a lap to the outfield wall after every inning they score if the players in the dugout do the same following scoreless frames.

On Tuesday night, that meant several jogs for Gilmore and perhaps none more satisfying than after a three-run seventh-inning that gave the Chants a comfortable cushion on the way to a big 5-2 win over UNC Wilmington at Brooks Field.

“I’ve been on their [butts] because I feel that we kind of got stagnant in the dugout and stuff. ... I’m just trying to keep everybody in the game,” Gilmore said. “If we don’t score, they run; if we do score, I run. So I’m fine. I’m good for nine of them if we can score something every inning. It seems to kind of lighten the mood when they know they can send me 100 yards [up] and back.”

That’s four wins in a row now for the Chants (31-13) as they’ve seemingly put their recent slump behind them, and this was a nice one.

UNC Wilmington (29-12) is on the fringes of several national rankings and posed the first of four tough games this week for Coastal Carolina, which is ranked as high as No. 23 nationally by D1Baseball.com and starts a three-game series at No. 9 Florida State on Friday.

Junior Zach Remillard delivered a two-run home run down the left field line in that three-run seventh inning, junior Casey Schroeder had previously hit a solo shot in the fourth and sophomore G.K. Young finished with two RBIs in the win.

What happened on the mound Tuesday was just as significant for the Chants, though.

Gilmore has said on several occasions this season that for his team to make an extended postseason run this year with its thin pitching depth, it needs junior right-hander Tyler Poole to find his form.

Full of potential, Poole had struggled with his control this season and entered the night with a 4.74 earned-run average over one start and 15 relief appearances.

Getting another start in his new mid-week role, Poole was plenty effective Tuesday while throwing four scoreless innings. He allowed three hits and two walks while striking out three.

“We desperately needed Tyler Poole to step up and he did,” Gilmore said.

As for the scoring, the Chants took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when sophomore Michael Paez reached on a two-out error by third baseman Terence Connelly, took second on junior Connor Owings’ walk and moved to third on an errant throw to second from catcher Gavin Stupienski before scoring on Young’s RBI single.

In the bottom of the third, UNC Wilmington had runners on first and third with one out before Schroeder threw out a base runner at second and Poole later followed with a big strikeout of Zach Shields to end the inning.

Schroeder then led off the fourth with a homer to right-center to make it 2-0. The shot was his 11th of the season to give him the team lead.

Poole, meanwhile, finished his day with two strikeouts in the bottom of the inning to work around a leadoff single.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Poole said. “It’s been a tough year for me. I’ve been trying to battle through so much stuff, having that back injury [that slowed him through the offseason]. I’ve just been working hard. I’ve had a few hiccups, but tonight I had great defense behind me. Casey Schroeder was awesome behind the plate. ... I’ve just got build off of this.”

Junior reliever Brock Hunter took over on the mound for the Chants and worked himself into a bases loaded jam in the fifth inning while issuing two walks and throwing errantly to first on a comebacker to the mound. But he answered with a strikeout of Casey Golden for his third punchout of the inning.

And Paez later got things started for Coastal Carolina in that big seventh inning with a one-out single, Owings followed with a hit-and-run single and Young picked up his second RBI on a deep sacrifice fly to right to make it 3-0. Remillard then followed with his two-run blast for his sixth homer of the year.

“It was big, 3-0 you know what pitch is coming usually and you’re looking for kind of a general location. [I was] on time on the ball and good things happen,” Remillard said.

That was plenty as the Seahawks, who were at one point 0-for-13 with runners on base, didn’t break through on the scoreboard until Corey Dick’s RBI single in the eighth. That run was charged to Hunter and freshman reliever Bobby Holmes gave up an unearned run in the ninth, but there would be no comeback as the Chants closed out the win.

Austin Easter (0-1) took the loss for the Seahawks, giving up four hits, three walks and two runs (one earned) in 3 1/3 innings.

Hunter (2-0) earned the victory, giving up one run, three hits and three walks over 3 1/3 innings.

“It’s important. We had to get back on track,” Remillard said of the win. “We fell off a little bit, but with a little effort and focus I think we’re back where we need to be going into this weekend.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2015 at 10:20 PM with the headline "Chants power past UNC Wilmington for fourth straight win."