Marks delivers walk-off win to send Chants past Ohio State

Teammates Mike Morrison and Connor Owings were already getting the celebratory shaving cream ready in the dugout when fellow senior Anthony Marks came to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth inning Monday.

And Marks took care of his end, smacking an opposite-field liner to left and just out of reach of the diving fielder to send the No. 19-ranked Coastal Carolina baseball team to a 3-2 walk-off win over Ohio State before a crowd of 1,831 at Springs Brooks Stadium.

Marks could barely get around first base before a swarm of teammates had raced out of the dugout, chasing him around the field while ultimately delivering that shaving cream pie to the face as these Chanticleers continue to deliver on their considerable expectations through the early part of this season.

“Actually me and CO, we were a little overconfident,” Morrison said. “We knew [Marks] was going to get it done so we grabbed the shaving cream, grabbed the water bottle and we were giggling a little bit the whole at-bat.”

Said Marks: “This win, these last two weekends, I think it just shows we’re fighters. The older guys have been here for four years and haven’t won a Big South [championship], and we’re ready to take that challenge head on. No matter the score, no matter who we’re playing, no matter who’s pitching for us or them, we’re going to be ready to go. I think it’s just a great win and two great weekends honestly.”

Coastal Carolina (5-2) was actually not having a very good game offensively while leaving 11 runners on base through eight innings and trailing Ohio State 2-1 to that point.

But Marks, who finished the game 4-for-5 with two runs and that game-winning RBI, started the rally with a single to leadoff the bottom of the ninth against reliever Austin Woodby as the Chants showed their resilience.

It looked like it might end up as another wasted opportunity as junior Michael Paez fouled out on a failed bunt attempt to the catcher and junior G.K. Young struck out swinging as Marks remained at first, but that just made it even more dramatic when senior Zach Remillard followed with a two-out RBI triple off the 20-foot wall in dead centerfield to tie the game at 2-2.

“I knew I hit it pretty good,” Remillard said. “I was on time on the barrel. When I watched it going, I was hoping, just please don’t catch it. I saw him approaching the wall and just hoping it would get up and it stayed up and got some the wall.”

Owings then roped a ball foul down the right field line before eventually grounding out to send the game to extra innings.

In the top of the 10th, Morrison shut down Ohio State with three straight strikeouts to keep the momentum with the Chants. The senior reliever would tally five strikeouts in two scoreless innings of work to get his second win of the young season.

And in the bottom of the 10th, the Chants ended it.

Freshman Cameron Pearcey led off with a bloop single to right-center against fresh reliever Seth Kinker, freshman Kieton Rivers moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt and then Ohio State (5-2-1) decided to intentionally walk senior David Parrett to set up a double-play possibility.

Chants coach Gary Gilmore decided to pinch-hit sophomore Josh Crump for sophomore Billy Cooke, and Crump worked a five-pitch walk to load the bases to bring Marks to the plate. The senior sparkplug then worked a 3-2 count before delivering the game-winner.

“I [saw] them move the infield in with the bases loaded and I knew he was going to attack me because he just walked Crump,” Marks said. “And we practice it every day, there’s a BP round for it – infield in, hammer the ball hard, hit it on the barrel and hit it in the outfield or hit it through the middle. At 3-2, I was like, ‘He’s coming right at me.’ I kind of golfed it a little bit, but I was just trying to be on time and hit it hard somewhere. When he kind of ran in, it looked like he was going to catch it and it took my breath away for a second. When it got down, it’s just an unbelievable feeling. We worked so hard in the fall, the older guys worked hard, the younger guys pushed the older guys and it’s just a great feeling.”

Marks still had shaving cream on parts of his face as he and Gilmore exchanged a hug in the postgame interview room while the Chants, who remained No. 19 in Baseball America’s national rankings this week, basked in one of those kind of wins that give credence to all of the lofty goals this team has carried into the season.

“We hung in there and hung in there and thank God Zach hit that ball off the wall,” Gilmore said, reflecting on the momentous victory. “It’s kind of funny how this ballpark plays. If he had hit that ball in the first five innings that ball might have landed on the hitting facility, but when there’s no wind and the heavy air, it’s amazing the ballpark held that ball. I thought Connor had kind of cheated on a ball the very next pitch, he just cheated a little too much, I thought he was going to end it, but it was exciting and wonderful the way it did end. Several guys got a chance. Pearcey, the freshman, gets a big hit for us, his running mate [Rivers] gets a bunt down. He probably is the worst bunter on our team by far – I mean, every BP round he doesn’t get but half his swings because he’s failing at bunting – [but] he got a perfect bunt down, couldn’t have done it any better. And I thought Crump had a really good at-bat. ... And Anthony, that was classic him.

“Thank goodness the guy didn’t catch it because Pearcey got caught up in the excitement and forgot to tag. I’m sitting there screaming at him, so thank goodness that played out the way it needed to do.”

Marks raised his batting average from .263 to .375 with his four-hit performance.

Meanwhile, on the mound junior right-hander Cole Schaefer turned in another encouraging start while holding the Buckeyes to two runs on six hits and two walks with two strikeouts over six innings.

Freshman lefty Austin Kitchen followed with two perfect innings and Morrison shutdown Ohio State the rest of the way.

With that, Coastal Carolina earned a weekend split with Ohio State while winning three out of four games overall in the 17th annual Caravelle Resort’s Baseball at the Beach tournament.

The Chants have a quick turnaround with a road game against College of Charleston on Wednesday at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant.

“It’s a big win,” Morrison said. “We’ve been battling a little bit and that team got us on Saturday. We really wanted to come back and get them. We had a couple guys step up for us in late at-bats, Gilley was playing matchups all day, guys like Josh Crump, Kieton Rivers, kid gets a bunt down and he’s had one at-bat all year. Stuff like that is why we’re going to be a really good team.”

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 8:31 PM with the headline "Marks delivers walk-off win to send Chants past Ohio State."