Coastal Carolina bounces back to split series with Wake Forest

Seth Lancaster put the Coastal Carolina baseball team ahead Wednesday.

And Michael Paez kept the Chanticleers up.

After Lancaster hit an RBI infield single to give Coastal Carolina a one-run lead, Paez drove in two on a single to give the Chanticleers some breathing room. The Demon Deacons scored four runs off reliever Bobby Holmes in the ninth inning to push their deficit to one run, but Coastal Carolina persevered for a 7-6 victory at Springs Brooks Stadium.

“It’s a good bounce-back win. It shows our team is resilient,” said Paez, whose team was coming off an 11-0 loss to Wake Forest the day before. “At the beginning, it was tough again like the first time we played them. But this game we showed that we have each other’s backs. We struggled, then came back with a great pitch or a great play in the field and we hit it pretty well toward the middle of the game and again it showed we have great resilience.”

After Chants starter Adam Hall struggled a bit out of the gate, reliever Mike Morrison was there to pick him up. Hall exited after allowing two earned runs in 1 1/3 innings. It left Morrison in a sticky situation, but he shined.

“We were hoping for three our four [innings] out of Adam. He showed flashes of what he has; he probably has the best stuff on our team and we really need him to step up for us. Today, I think, was a small step,” Morrison said. “He got a little wild in the second and we’ve been preaching picking each other up all week. He hit a little slump and I tried to go in there to pick him up. A couple of guys got themselves out and I didn’t do anything special but it was good.”

Morrison struck out two, walked one and allowed just one hit in 2 1/3 innings to keep the Chanticleers very much in the game.

“He’s our guy. We need him to be good, and he has been,” Paez said of Morrison. “He kept us locked in during the game. When he was in, we knew that once we got our bats going we would be fine.”

Paez finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs, and Tyler Chadwick was 2-for-4 as well with one run scored to pace Coastal Carolina’s offense, which collected eight hits.

Meanwhile, Alex Cunningham was back in old form as he picked up the win, striking out five and allowing just one hit across 3 1/3 innings.

“I thought Cunningham threw like the Cunningham of old and that’s a very encouraging sign,” Chants coach Gary Gilmore said. “As much as Hall struggled, he matched his walks with strikeouts. If we can ever get him straightened out, there’s a good guy in there.”

Meanwhile, Holmes allowed four runs on five hits and one walk in two innings of work, but the team isn’t discouraged by his performance.

“Bobby just wants to make it fun, I guess,” Paez joked. “We need him to be good and he showed his stuff; that last batter had no chance. ... We’ll be fine, he’s a great pitcher so we’re fine.”

Said Gilmore: “We’re not pitching Bobby Holmes enough. We have to find a different role for him at this point in time. He’s too good of an arm, and he got banged around tonight. But you sit around for eight or nine days and no matter what, it gets a little rusty on you.”

Meanwhile, Coastal Carolina boasts one of the best offenses in the country. Five players are batting above .300 (Paez, Lancaster, Connor Owings, Billy Cooke, Zach Remillard), while two (GK Young, Anthony Marks) sit above .400.

“I love this group of kids,” Gilmore said. “They want to win and they work hard for us. We’ll keep working and get better.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 10:21 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina bounces back to split series with Wake Forest."