No. 8 Chants complete season sweep of North Carolina with 8-6 win

CONWAY, S.C. (CCU) – No. 8 Coastal Carolina hit three home runs and erased an early 3-0 deficit to defeat the North Carolina Tar Heels 8-6 in non-conference midweek action on Tuesday night at Springs Brooks Stadium.

The Chants, who improved to 30-5 on the season when totaling six runs or more for the game, completed the season series sweep of the Tar Heels, having won 12-7 in Chapel Hill, N.C., back on March 28.

With Coastal’s three home runs, the Chants moved to 26-4 on the year when hitting two or more home runs in a contest.

Coastal improved to 10-5 overall on the season versus opponents from the Tar Heel State of North Carolina and moved to 3-4 versus teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Providing the offensive firepower for the Chants were the five, six, and seven-hole hitters, as super senior Nick Lucky (2-for-2, HR, 2 BB, 2 RBIs, 2 runs, SB), senior Zack Beach (1-for-4, HR, 3 RBIs, run), and freshman Jake Books (1-for-3, HR, RBI, run) each hit one home run in the win.

Infielders Payton Eeles (2-for-4, 2B, BB, run) and Blake Barthol (2-for-4, 2B, run) both had two hits apiece, while designated hitter Derek Bender (1-for-4, RBI, run) added to his team-leading RBI total to give him 74 on the season.

The Chanticleers hit .375 (3-for-8) with two outs and .300 (3-for-10) with runners in scoring position compared to the Tar Heels .200 (2-for-10) and .143 (2-for-14), respectively.

The hot-hitting North Carolina offense, which was coming off a sweep at NC State last weekend, was led by two hits each from Mac Horvath (2-for-4, 3B, BB, 2 runs) and Hunter Stokely (2-for-5, 2B, RBI), while Max Riemer (1-for-2, HR, 2 RBIs, run) came off the bench to hit a two-run home run in the loss.

With it being a designated staff day for the Coastal pitchers, super senior Jack Billings (2-0) picked up the win. The right-handed hurler entered the game in the second inning with the score tied at 3-3 and threw 3.0-scoreless frames, giving up two hits, two walks, and striking out three UNC batters.

Junior reliever Teddy Sharkey (7) again finished the game for the Chants, as the right-hander pitched 1.1 innings, allowing one run on one hit and two strikeouts to earn his seventh save of the season.

North Carolina starter Connor Bovair (4-3) took the loss for the visitors in blue, as the right-handed pitcher gave up five runs, four of which were earned, on five hits, one walk, one strikeout, one wild pitch, and a balk over 2.1 innings on the mound.

North Carolina got on the scoreboard first in the top of the first inning, leading off the game with three-straight hits before scoring a run on a fielder’s choice ground out and a passed ball to go up 2-0.

The Tar Heels added a run with a two-out RBI double from Dylan King to take a 3-0 lead before the Chants even swung the bat.

Coastal quickly erased the deficit in the bottom of the first inning, as Bender hit a two-out RBI single up the middle to drive in Eeles, who led off the game with a double and moved up to third on a balk.

CCU’s next hitter tied the game up with one swing of the bat, as Lucky launched a two-run home run on the boardwalk in right field to tie the game up at 3-3 with his 13th home run of the season.

The Men in Teal took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the second inning on a solo home run to right field by Books, his second home run of the season, and added to their lead with the help of a UNC fielding error to pull out in front at 5-3 after two innings of play.

The Chants used a 4-6-3 double play to get out of the top of the third inning, pitched around a walk and double with the help of two strikeouts in the fourth frame, and threw out a would-be base stealer to halt the visitor’s scoring chances in the fifth inning to take a 5-3 lead into the sixth.

After reliever Will Smith threw a quick 1-2-3 inning in the top of the sixth, the Chants’ offense loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning, only to see it end on a 6-4-3 double play.

Coastal used its own double play ball, a 5-3 twin killing, to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the seventh inning before adding to its lead with a three-run home run off the bat of Beach in the bottom half of the frame to extend the lead to 8-3 with two innings to play. The long ball was his 13th of the season.

North Carolina took advantage of a two-out fielding error by the Chanticleers in the top of the eighth inning to score two runs on a Riemer two-run home run to close the gap to three at 8-5.

The Tar Heels added another run in the top of the ninth inning on a triple by Horvath and an RBI ground out by Stokely to put the score at 8-6, only to see the Chants’ Sharkey close the door with a strikeout and ground out to seal the non-conference midweek win.

The Chants (34-17, 20-7 Sun Belt) will host the Marshall Thundering Herd (16-34, 5-22 Sun Belt) for the final three-game Sun Belt Conference series of the regular season on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, May 18-20. The first two games of the series on Thursday and Friday will begin at 6 p.m. ET and the regular-season finale will start at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday.