Cunningham answers the call for Chanticleers

Speaking the night before, Coastal Carolina baseball coach Gary Gilmore was unsure what the Chanticleers were going to do on the pitcher’s mound Saturday evening in their College World Series elimination game with TCU.

He and pitching coach Drew Thomas both talked about maybe throwing one of the team’s lesser-used pitchers – and fresher arms – to start before leaning on the available veterans in the later innings.

But when it came down to a final decision, it was no surprise to see the Chants send out junior right-hander Alex Cunningham on just three full days of rest.

“Drew and I talked about it this morning or a little bit before lunch. Not that the other kids couldn’t have gotten the job done, it’s just for me, the confidence level of him going out on the mound versus somebody else, for all the guys involved positionary wise, I think it just sent a huge message that, ‘Hey, we’re going to send our best guy out there,’” Gilmore said. “And if he can’t go but three innings, so be it, whatever.”

Cunningham gave the Chants a lot more than that while holding TCU to one run through the first five innings as they built a big early lead and held on for a 7-5 win at TD Ameritrade Park, earning a matchup in the CWS best-of-three championship series with Arizona this week.

Cunningham would eventually lose his effectiveness while pitching into the seventh inning and was ultimately charged with four earned runs on eight hits and a walk in 6 1/3 innings, but he did the job while improving to 10-4 for the season.

“Honestly I was very impressed, I thought he pitched really well – probably as well as he’s pitched all year with the stuff that he had,” Gilmore said. “He didn’t have plus velocity. He sat about 87-90 [miles per hour], which is probably the bottom end of where he’s been all year long, but he also had some command of his breaking ball, he added and subtracted off of it, he threw his change-up enough. He forced them to honor three pitches, and that’s what slowed them down.”

One of the Chants’ two key cogs atop the rotation all season, Cunningham had taken the loss in a 6-1 defeat to TCU on Tuesday night, giving up three runs (only one earned) on four hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings.

That was certainly on his mind as he returned to the mound Saturday, knowing this could also potentially be his final collegiate start as he intends to begin his pro career with the Detroit Tigers once this season ends.

“I do not like to lose. I’m as competitive as they come and I was really grateful that I got to face them again,” he said. “I had a very bad taste in my mouth, and I honestly didn’t throw that well tonight, but I didn’t do bad. I put us in a position where we could score some runs and win a ballgame. ...

“Me personally, I’m not satisfied with that outing, but we got it done and like we’ve been doing all year [we were] picking each other up.”

Cunningham allowed just one hit through the first three innings before giving up three hits and a run in the fourth, but he minimized the damage by striking out Josh Watson to end the inning and strand runners on first and third.

He issued his only walk to open the fifth, but he followed with a strikeout of Ryan Merrill and got Michael Landestoy to ground into an inning-ending double play as the Chants led 7-1 at that point.

TCU started to break through after that with a run in the six and two more in the seventh as the Chants went to the bullpen, but Cunningham had given the team all it needed.

And for whatever deliberation the coaches had in making the pitching decision, or whether it was merely to keep TCU guessing, Cunningham expected all along to be the guy Saturday night.

“I assumed I was going to start, just with our rotation and even on three days rest I wasn’t going to let them take the ball out of my hands,” he said. “I wanted to be the rock for this team, I wanted to be the guy that everybody could depend on and in turn I can depend on them. The offense picked me up all night tonight, and it’s just easy to go out there and throw with them guys behind you. ...

“Coach Thomas came in my room today and was like, ‘Hey, are you good?’ And obviously I said yes. ... I just wanted to be there and be the rock for the team.”

This story was originally published June 26, 2016 at 4:58 AM with the headline "Cunningham answers the call for Chanticleers."