Chanticleers keep rolling, best top-seeded Florida in CWS opener

At this point, nothing the Coastal Carolina baseball team does or accomplishes should surprise anyone.

The Chanticleers’ magical season got even more incredible Sunday night as they never trailed against top-seeded Florida on the way to a 2-1 win in the program’s first-ever College World Series game, played before a crowd of 19,696 at TD Ameritrade Park.

The Chants (50-16) nearly squandered too many opportunities, but it didn’t matter with junior right-hander Andrew Beckwith on the mound.

He was simply sublime while allowing only that one run in a complete-game effort, giving up seven hits, no walks and striking out seven. He threw 71 of his 98 pitches for strikes in a legendary performance that will go down in Chants lore.

And senior third baseman Zach Remillard went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and RBI triple to plate both Coastal Carolina runs as the Chants won for the 16th time in their last 17 games and continued to find a way to top themselves.

“This group, I keep telling them we’re playing better people that are better than them, and they keep proving me wrong,” Coastal Carolina coach Gary Gilmore said.

The Chants advance to play TCU, also a winner Sunday, in a matchup Tuesday night on their double-elimination half of the eight-team College World Series bracket.

Florida (52-15), the No. 1 overall seed when this postseason began, will play Texas Tech in an elimination game Tuesday.

Again, at this point, there’s simply no shortage of adjectives to apply to this run for Coastal Carolina, which has made program history and clearly isn’t satisfied just yet.

“This team’s built on brotherhood,” Remillard said. “Everyone loves one another. The camaraderie is at another level, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. And I think [it’s about] the opportunity to win and to have a couple more days with each other because we have some of our best friends in the world playing next to us. So we’re going to go out there and give it all we have and not worry who’s on the other side, whether they’re more talented than us or not. We’re just going to compete.”

Said senior Tyler Chadwick, who moved over from first base to make his first career start at second as an injury fill-in: “Gilley preached all week that we weren’t just here to [be] here, that we needed to take the first few days we were here, enjoy it, get to see everything and enjoy the ceremonies and everything, but once we got to practice [Saturday] it was time to lock back in and all the other stuff went out the window. It’s a good team win, and it’s something I think we needed to get off our chests early here.”

Facing a pitcher in junior right-hander Logan Shore who was the 47th overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft last week and the SEC Pitcher of the Year this season, the Chants were undaunted while continually creating chances and capitalizing on just enough of them to stay a step ahead of the Gators.

It wasn’t just Shore, for that matter. Florida used two other pitchers out of the bullpen who were drafted even higher, in the first round

And the Chants might have really regretted all the missed opportunities they racked up along the way – with 10 runners left on base – if not for Beckwith, who improved to 13-1 to tie the program single-season record for wins.

Michael Paez hit a one-out triple in the top of the first, but he was left stranded there when Connor Owings lined out to short and Remillard grounded back to the pitcher.

Billy Cooke was then left stranded on second following a one-out double in the second inning before the Chants eventually broke through in the third.

Anthony Marks got it started with a one-out double on an opposite-field liner to left, and after Paez struck out and Owings walked Remillard hit a fly ball the other way down the right field line. It appeared to kick up just enough white chalk to be fair, but the umpire ruled foul ball while temporarily negating what would have been a two-run knock.

The fans chanted “fair ball, fair ball, fair ball” as a prolonged official review drug out over several minutes. Ultimately Remillard was awarded second base and one RBI as Marks reenacted his steps around second and third while picking up a congratulatory slap on the back from Gilmore on the way home for a 1-0 Coastal Carolina lead.

The initial missed call cost the Chants a run, though, as Florida got out of the inning without further damage on a G.K. Young groundout.

“The longer it went the more I knew it had to be fair and they were trying to figure out what to do,” Gilmore said. “I mean, no one’s trying not to make a correct call, but if that call goes as a fair ball from the get-go we easily score two runs. ... At least what I’ve been told, once a decision’s been made I can’t argue at all or I get tossed. I honestly really wanted to question why they only allowed one guy to score because we easily had a score from first base on that play, but thank goodness at least we have [review]. In the regular season we don’t have that at all, it’s a foul ball and we don’t score.”

Florida would erase that lead in the bottom of the fifth when Jeremy Vasquez delivered a two-out pinch-hit RBI single up the middle to make it 1-1 – temporarily.

But Owings led off the sixth with a walk and Remillard struck again with a hard-hit ball to deep left-center. Florida centerfielder Buddy Reed – the 48th pick in the draft last wekk – tracked it and was in position, but he couldn’t haul it in and went crashing into the fence as Owings scored and Remillard reached third to give the Chants a 2-1 lead.

Again, though, they had the opportunity for much more.

Reliever Kirby Snead came in and threw one pitch, plunking Young before being removed. With runners on first and third and no outs, the Gators went to righty Dane Dunning – the 29th overall pick in the draft – who got Billy Cooke to ground back to the mound and set up a rundown that nabbed Remillard along the third base line.

Still, the Chants had runners on first and second with one out, but Dunning struck out Chadwick and picked off Young at second to end the inning.

They had two runners on with one out in the seventh before a Paez double play ended it, and they would put more pressure on the Gators in the eighth ... and strand more runners.

After Young hit a two-out double to left, Cooke was hit by a pitch by Dunning and Chadwick took one off the helmet from flame-thrower A.J. Puk – the sixth overall pick in the draft who would face only one batter out of the bullpen – as the Chants had the bases loaded with two outs.

Shaun Anderson came in as Florida went to its fifth pitcher of the game, and he got Kevin Woodall Jr. to ground out to second to end the threat and keep it 2-1.

It was enough, though.

“We kept setting the table tonight, [but] we didn’t get that one hit to separate us all night long,” Gilmore said. “And that’s a credit to their team and who they are, and we’re just very, very fortunate to come out on top and [I’m] happy to take this win.”

Beckwith tied a career-high with his seven strikeouts while delivering the longest outing of his brilliant three-year collegiate career, capped by a clean 1-2-3 ninth inning.

Ever the picture of calm, he was unfazed by the crowd of nearly 20,000 and the reality of pitching in the biggest game of his life. He insisted he felt no nerves.

“Not really,” he said. “They’re chanting ‘Coastal Carolina’ in the bottom of the ninth and it’s kind of getting me going. I’m getting chills, but it definitely was more fun than nerves.”

He revealed in the postgame news conference that he pulled a curveball “out of his back pocket” in warm-ups, working in a pitch he hasn’t really used this season.

Whatever he was throwing, it was working.

“He had a great game tonight,” Gilmore said. “He was very good, and like I’ve said all along, he’s the best bullpen guy in the country, but he keeps proving me wrong that he’s a legit starter.”

Said Beckwith: “I’ll definitely remember it. I’ll remember the crowd. I’ll remember the moment, but I think we’ve got a couple more games to win and I think there will be another moment to add to it.”

The Chants will try to do it again Tuesday night against TCU (48-16) when the teams meet at 9 p.m. ET (on ESPN).

Gilmore was asked what statement he thought the win Sunday night made to the rest of the teams on the bracket.

“I’m sure no one is in awe of us. They just know that we’re going to come out and compete,” he said. “I think the fact that you were able to compete against the No. 1 national seed and find a way to win against one of the very best starting pitchers in the entire country and a bullpen staff that’s unprecedented, I’m sure everyone took notice.

“But again, it’s all in perspective. It’s a baseball game. We won a 2-1 game against a great club and that’s the end of story.”

This story was originally published June 19, 2016 at 11:07 PM with the headline "Chanticleers keep rolling, best top-seeded Florida in CWS opener."