Coastal baseball secures first win of Baseball at the Beach

Coastal Carolina University Baseball found themselves back in World Series contention with a 13-2 mercy rule win over Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) during the Baseball at the Beach tournament on Friday.  

VCU threatened early, as Coastal’s right-handed starter Luke Jones started with a two-out single up the middle by designated hitter Jacob Lee. VCU First baseman Quinn Maher followed by getting hit by a pitch.  

VCU quickly had a runner in scoring position, only to be left stranded when Jones struck out his second batter of the inning to escape the jam.  

Ben Joynt, a junior at CCU, commented on Jones’ pitching. 

“Pitching looks good, like always, and hopefully we can get some runs on the board,” Joynt said.  

Coastal rode that momentum into the bottom of the inning when the second baseman, Blake Barthol, singled down the right field line. After stealing second base and advancing to third base on a throw into center field, right fielder Rex Watson hit an RBI double to right field to give CCU a 1-0 lead.  

Coastal kept advancing their lead in the second inning with a bases loaded RBI walk by shortstop Walker Mitchell to make the score 2-0. 

VCU fought back in the top of the third with a one out double by Maher, followed by an RBI single to center field by third baseman Nate Kirkpatrick to cut the lead in half. 

 Coastal would answer right back in the bottom of the inning when left fielder Jordan Taylor found himself on third base after a leadoff walk and a throwing error on a pickoff attempt, allowed him to advance.  

An RBI sacrifice fly by first baseman Colby Thorndyke, a hit by right fielder Blagen Pado, and an RBI single by center fielder Dean Mihos quickly brought the score to 4-1 in favor of CCU. 

VCU would start off the top of the fourth inning with a leadoff double by right fielder Trent Adelman, who would then score on a fielding error, making it 4-2. A single by second baseman Nick Flores and a walk by Lee would load up the bases and force a pitching change.  

With VCU looking to get themselves back into the game, CCU brought in left-handed relief pitcher Case Bosch, who proceeded to strike out the next two hitters on six pitches, escaping the loaded bases.  

Bosch finished out the game for CCU, throwing the final four innings, only allowing one hit, one walk, striking out three and allowing no runs on 47 total pitches.  

“We are playing decent enough. Could have a few more runs, obviously, but it is early in the season, it’ll get there,” Nicholas Grier, a sophomore at CCU, said. 

The chants ended up scoring nine runs in the last three innings.  

With three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, off a couple of RBI hits, and a fielder’s choice, CCU’s lead grew to 7-2. After a scoreless seventh inning, Coastal brought it home in the eighth with two RBI walks and a walk off mercy rule grand slam by Ty Barrango in his first at bat of the game, solidifying the 13-2 win.  

This win improves Coastal’s record to 4-1 on the season, looking to win their next game at home against Illinois on Feb. 21 at 4 p.m.