How Coastal Carolina knocked off its second ranked baseball opponent of the 2021 season
Following its three-game season-opening series against Duke, it appeared Coastal Carolina would need an explosive offense to knock off Wake Forest on Tuesday at David F. Couch Ballpark in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The Chanticleers figured to need it to make up for unreliable pitching and defense.
The Chants had given up 29 runs, 31 hits and 18 walks while dropping two of three games against Baseball America’s No. 11 team Friday through Sunday, and had committed 11 errors to allow nine unearned runs.
Yet pitching and defense carried a quiet CCU offense into extra innings Tuesday, and the Chants finally took advantage of scoring opportunities in the late innings with three runs in the 12th to defeat the Demon Deacons 4-1.
Coastal (2-2), which was ranked 23rd in the preseason Collegiate Baseball poll, evened its record in four games against ranked opponents, as Wake Forest (2-2) is ranked No. 16 by D1Baseball.
Six Coastal pitchers allowed seven hits and walked just two while striking out 20 Wake Forest batters.
Coastal finally took advantage of scoring opportunities in the 12th inning after failing to push across a run despite runners in scoring position with one out or less in each of the previous four innings.
Coastal scored its three runs in the 12th with the benefit of just one hit — a bunt single.
Makenzie Pate reached on an error to lead off the inning, stole second base on the next pitch and advanced to third on a bunt single near the third base line by Nick Lucky.
Eric Brown walked to load the bases, Parker Chavers fouled off a pair of two-strike pitches to draw a walk and force in the go-ahead run, and both Cooper Weiss and Walt Richardson of Aynor walked with one out to force in runs.
Earlier in the game, Pate homered to right-center in the sixth inning to give the Chants the lead, and Wake Forest tied the game in the eighth when Pierce Bennett singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a double by Michael Turconi off CCU freshman reliever Luke Barrow.
Barrow then struck out the next two batters to preserve the tie.
Coastal left the bases loaded in both the ninth and 11th innings and had the go-ahead run on second base with no outs in the 10th.
The Chants had the bags full with no outs in the ninth, as Brown and Chavers singled and Alex Gattinelli walked before B.T. Riopelle grounded into a force-out at the plate, Weiss flied out to shallow right field and Fox Leum struck out swinging.
In the 10th, sophomore second baseman Dale Thomas walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch, but Pate struck out, Lucky flew out to left field and Brown struck out.
In the 11th, freshman Billy Underwood walked and both Riopelle and Weiss were hit by pitches with one out. Pinch hitter Richardson struck out swinging and Thomas grounded out to first base.
The Chants also had a runner in scoring position with one out in the eighth inning with a chance to extend its lead to 2-0 but failed to score.
Coastal got impressive pitching performances throughout the game against the Demon Deacons, who took two of three games from Northeastern in its season-opening series and scored 28 runs in the process.
Sophomore righthander Casey Green, who was 1-0 last season as a true freshman with a 3.78 ERA in six appearances, started and pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing five hits with six strikeouts.
Five CCU relievers allowed just two hits and one run. Senior Trevor Damron threw 2 1/3 hitless innings, freshman Teddy Sharkey struck out three in 1 2/3 innings, and freshman Keaton Hopwood closed out the game by allowing a walk and striking out three in the final two innings.
The Chants shored up their defense, playing errorless baseball Tuesday. Pitchers assisted the defense with the 20 strikeouts, and the teams combined to strike out 37 times.
The Chants had just five hits and no player had more than one., but it was enough on this day.
This story was originally published February 23, 2021 at 9:27 PM.
