CCU Baseball Notebook: Lancaster unsure how long injury will sideline him

The news came as a jolt Sunday and without warning to those on the outside of the Coastal Carolina baseball team as it was revealed that sophomore second baseman Seth Lancaster would miss the biggest game of the season with a knee injury.

Lancaster, the Chanticleers’ hottest hitter with a .444 batting average over the last five weeks, was coming off a 4-for-4 game in the team’s NCAA super regional opener at LSU the night before.

But he injured his knee sliding into home in the ninth inning of that 11-8 win and was still limping noticeably Monday before the College World Series-bound Chants headed back home.

Lancaster said after watching his team clinch its super regional sweep with a 4-3 win over Louisiana State that he had “no idea” how long he’d be sidelined.

“I just tweaked it a little bit. I hit the ground and it tweaked or twisted and I’m back whenever Barry [Lippman, associate athletic trainer] tells me I can get on second base,” he said.

Freshman Cameron Pearcey filled in at second base, making his first start since March 22, and he had an interesting night.

He made a smooth play in the eighth inning to field a grounder and flip to shortstop Michael Paez for the final out while stranding the bases loaded, but in the top of the ninth he committed a throwing error to let the leadoff man on base and then was plowed over by LSU’s Jake Fraley while covering first on a bunt. The tying run scored on that play before the Chants again stranded the bases loaded and won it in the bottom of the ninth.

“I told Cam last night to be ready, I knew I wasn’t probably going to be able to play today, but he came out there and did what he was supposed to. He had one mishap, whatever, but he did what needed to be done over there and I had all faith in him,” Lancaster said after the game.

Pearcey and coach Gary Gilmore later shared a long hug in the dugout after the win.

Meanwhile, even though he didn’t get to contribute on the field Sunday, Lancaster soaked in the moment – one he was very much a part of creating after getting the game-winning hit in the Chants’ NCAA regional finale to send them to Baton Rouge in the first place.

“It’s everything I thought it would be and then a little more,” he said. “My whole family’s here, 12-hour drive and it’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me ever, besides being born.”

Holmes for the win ... and the win

Sophomore reliever Bobby Holmes stranded the bases loaded in both the eighth and ninth innings Sunday night in a performance that will go down in program history for its role in sending the Chants to the College World Series for the first time.

He took over in the eighth with runners on first and second and one out and later had the bases loaded with two outs before inducing that inning-ending groundout to Pearcey.

And in the ninth, after the tying run scored unearned, he had the bases loaded with one out before striking out pinch-hitter Brody Wofford on a full count and getting Beau Jordan to fly out to left.

Holmes was credited with the win Sunday, just as he was Saturday when he pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief in a similarly tough spot. After some struggles earlier in the season, he’s now 6-2 with a 4.44 earned-run average and three saves.

“Just think about how far I’ve come from the beginning of the year to now,” he said. “Being resilient and being mentally tough in those situations all year is really what’s given me the opportunity to be placed in that situation and have Coach Gilmore and Coach T (pitching coach Drew Thomas) and the rest of the team behind me in the first place. So I’m not too uncomfortable in that situation, learning from Mike Morrison, a great mentor I’ve had. I can’t speak enough about that guy. I knew I needed to make that pitch and I just executed it.”

Cunningham continues string of strong outings

With another strong performance Sunday in the biggest start of his collegiate career, junior right-hander Alex Cunningham has now allowed two runs or fewer in five of his last six starts.

He held LSU to two runs over 7 1/3 innings, albeit while allowing 10 hits and striking out only one.

That’s reflective of his style, though, he said.

“You can look at my stats and I have less strikeouts than I have innings, so I’m not a strikeout pitcher,” he said. “I lack the strikeout pitch, but [I focus on] just letting my guys work behind me and having full confidence in them. We’ve talked about it since the beginning of the year, but we pick each other up. That’s all that matters.”

Anatomy of a walk-off

Senior left fielder Anthony Marks, the catalyst for the Chants’ decisive bottom of the ninth inning Sunday, said there was not much talk in the dugout after the team managed to get out of the top of the inning with the score tied.

“I don’t really think anything needed to be said, honestly. We knew the goal ahead and that was a little slip up, but it didn’t hurt us that bad. They didn’t take the lead; they just tied it,” Marks said. “... I think a couple people in the dugout [said] ‘It’s just a baseball game, take a deep breath.’”

Gilmore spoke to Marks and junior Michael Paez to set up the plan of attack for that final frame.

“When he came in, I told Anthony if he got on, tell [first base coach Kevin] Schnall to tell him ‘We’re green lighting you.’ I said, ‘If he does the leg swing, we’re going,’” Gilmore recounted. “And I told Paez, since I had taken [Connor] Owings out [for a defensive replacement] – I was cussing myself, but we’ve done it all year – I told Mikey, ‘I’m going to let you hit.’ Both of them couldn’t have done it any better.”

Marks walked on a full-count pitch, promptly stole second and scored the next pitch on a chopper over the third baseman by Paez.

“The emotions are limitless. You can’t even describe these emotions,” Marks said. “And when that ball bounced over the third baseman’s head, there was no doubt I was getting home. ... There was really no stopping me and I was going to get there no matter what.”

This story was originally published June 13, 2016 at 3:29 PM with the headline "CCU Baseball Notebook: Lancaster unsure how long injury will sideline him."