No. 15 Coastal Carolina (17-7, 6-0 SBC) returns to conference play for a weekend series against Marshall (13-10, 5-1 SBC) with the first pitch scheduled for Friday, March 27, at 6 p.m. at Jack Cook Field.
The Chanticleers are coming off a thrilling comeback win on the road over Clemson, rallying from a 9–3 deficit entering the seventh inning. A five-run surge in the frame shifted the momentum in Coastal’s favor, pulling them within one and setting the stage for the dramatic victory.
Over the final three innings, Coastal Carolina scored eight unanswered runs to rally past the Tigers, 11-9.
Coastal completed the comeback in the eighth inning, as Walker Mitchell laid down a perfectly executed safety squeeze to bring Cruz Harlan home from third and even the score at 9–9. Later in the frame, Rex Watson gave the Chanticleers their first lead since the first inning, reaching on a misplayed ball at second that allowed Dean Mihos to cross the plate and put Coastal ahead 10–9.
Blake Barthol delivered a sacrifice fly to add insurance in the ninth and extend the lead to 11-9. Darin Horn (4-0) was able to secure the win with a dominant outing from the bullpen, tossing three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out six.
With the win, the Chanticleers improved to 17-7 overall and remain undefeated in the Sun Belt as they take on a Marshall squad that lost to No. 17 West Virginia at home Tuesday night, recording just one hit in the game and striking out 12 times.
Junior designated hitter Oliver Service broke the no-hit bid with a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh off West Virginia’s Reese Bassinger.
Luke Proehl and Alex Caudill produced effective innings out of the bullpen for Marshall. Proehl tossed 2.2 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out three. Caudill fanned four batters across 4.0 hitless frames, allowing just one walk.
Luke Jones will get the start on Friday night for the Chanticleers. Jones (1-1) has a 2.67 ERA through six starts and aims to pick up where he left off, tossing 5.0 innings last weekend against James Madison, surrendering just two hits and two runs.
The Herd will look to put the West Virginia contest in the rearview and rediscover the explosive offense that produced an extraordinary 52 hits and 42 runs in last weekend’s series win over Georgia Southern.
The series will be aired on ESPN+.
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