MONROE, La. – No. 19 Coastal Carolina broke open a pitchers' duel with a 5-run eighth inning and tacked on two more in the ninth for a 9-0 win to take the series over ULM Saturday afternoon at Lou St. Amant Field.
The Chanticleers (20-7 overall, 5-4 Sun Belt Conference) used a pair of 2-run home runs in the eighth inning to build the lead, as Caden Bodine hit the first one, and two batters later, Graham Brown followed with the second to cap the five-run inning.
CCU added an RBI single by Blake Barthol in the ninth and a sacrifice fly by Bodine to extend the lead to 9-0.
ULM had baserunners on early in the game, but couldn't take advantage of the situation.
Bryce Blaser,
Colby Lunsford,
Matt Abshire and
Easton Winfield each hit leadoff singles across the first four innings, but the Warhawks went 0-for-11 at the plate behind them.
CCU struck first in the bottom of the second inning as Graham Brown hit two-out single, Jake Books walked and Dean Mihos hit an RBI single to give the Chanticleers the 1-0 lead.
The Chants doubled the lead in the sixth inning on Blake Barthol's solo home run.
Cameron Flukey (1-1) earned his first career win for CCU, throwing five shutout innings, allowing four hits with one walk and a career-high eight strikeouts. Hayden Johnson threw three shutout innings behind him with one hit, one walk and two strikeouts. Trevor Hinkel threw the final three outs, allowing one hit with two strikeouts.
Chipper Menard (0-2) suffered the tough-luck loss for ULM, throwing a season-high 4 1/3 innings, allowing one run on three hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
Brandon Brewer and
Zach Shaw each threw a shutout inning out of the bullpen for the Warhawks.
Barthol led CCU with a double and a home run among his three hits with two RBIs. Brown and Mihos each had two hits with an RBI. Six different Warhawks accounted for each of ULM's hits.
The Warhawks return to action at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Northwestern State.
