Chanticleers Hand Tar Heels Second Straight Loss

The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers improved to 11-6 with an impressive 13-2 victory over the 11th ranked UNC baseball team at Springs Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina. Coach Mike Fox’s club falls to 10-5 with the loss and remains 2-1 in the ACC.

Coming off a loss in their series finale against Duke where the pitching was shaky and the offense had trouble getting anything going, it was more of the same for UNC on Tuesday.

Coastal starting pitcher Austin Kerr (3-0) pitched four strong innings on his way to the win, letting North Carolina score just once, while giving up five hits. His bullpen backed him up by allowing just three hits and one run over the final five frames.

Freshman Zack Gahagan played well yet again in the starting role at first base, and his single with two outs in the top of the first off of Kerr drove in Landon Lassiter, giving UNC the first score of the contest. He led the North Carolina offensive attack for the day, going 2-4 with an RBI.

Making the start on the mound for the Tar Heels, just the second of his career, was another freshman, Hunter Williams (0-1). After lasting just two innings in his starting debut last Monday at Liberty, Williams struggled yet again on the way to picking up the loss. Despite being able to wiggle out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the first and sitting the Chanticleers down in order in the second inning, the wheels started to come off in the third.

A double to lead off the frame by centerfielder Anthony Marks got the rally started for Coastal Carolina, but it was Williams’ own mistakes that handed the lead over to the home team. First, Connor Owings hit a slow roller back to the pitcher’s mound and Williams misfired on the throw to first, allowing Marks to score and tie the game.  Then he would go on to hit back-to-back batters with pitches, the second coming with the bases loaded, which was enough for coach Mike Fox to make a change.

For the fourth time in five days, senior Trevor Kelley came out of the Tar Heel bullpen to keep the damage to a minimum, holding the Chanticleer lead at 2-1 through three innings. Fatigue from throwing 12.1 innings last week looked like it had started to set in for Kelley in the fourth, as Coastal was able to break through for three singles and a run off of the Wilmington native with no outs in the inning. However, the senior would recover to strike out the next four batters he faced, and ended up throwing until the end of the fifth, adding 2.1 more innings to his season total.

Hearts dropped in the top of that fifth inning though, after North Carolina shortstop Wood Myers was injured rounding first base. Myers checked to see if he could take second base after a base-hit, but decided to turn back towards first when all of a sudden, he fell to the ground awkwardly without contact. Players left the field so that medical staff and coaches could check on Myers, and he was then carted off the field and taken to a local hospital.

Designated hitter G.K. Young hit an RBI single off of freshman Hansen Butler in the bottom of the sixth to extend the lead, before Spencer Trayner relieved Butler with the bases loaded. Trayner would hit the first batter he faced and then walk the second to make the score 6-1 in favor of Coastal Carolina by the end of the inning.

The bleeding was not over for the Tar Heel bullpen. Shortstop Michael Paez hit a solo shot off of Trayner in the seventh to add insult to injury, putting North Carolina in a six-run hole and giving Paez three RBI for the game.

Alex Raburn, the UNC second baseman, hit into a fielder’s choice in the eighth that netted him an RBI when Skye Bolt crossed home plate, but ultimately the hole was too deep to dig out of.

Nails were put in the coffin when the Chanticleers tacked on an additional six runs to their lead in the bottom of the eighth, and UNC was not able to muster anything in their half of the ninth, officially marking their second consecutive loss.

Up Next: 

Another matchup with a foe out of the Big South conference awaits the Diamond Heels as they host the Gardner Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs at Boshamer Stadium on Wednesday at noon. Freshman Brett Daniels will start for UNC opposite senior left-hander Beau Hilton.

Game Notes:

• Williams hit three batters in just 2.2 innings of work, while North Carolina as a team hit four Chanticleers.
• Coastal Carolina catcher Casey Schroeder entered the game with six home runs in 2015, tied with UNC’s entire team. He went 1-3 with an RBI on Tuesday.
• Trevor Kelley has posted an impressive 1.59 ERA in 17 relief innings this season for the Tar Heels.
• The Chanticleers loaded the bases in four of their eight innings at-bat.

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