No. 9 Coastal Carolina (31-13, 17-4 SBC) put together one of its most dominant regular-season performances in program history Tuesday night, defeating No. 2 North Carolina (36-9-1, 17-7 ACC) 12–2 at Boshamer Stadium.
Rex Watson put Coastal on the board first in Chapel Hill with an RBI single up the middle, scoring Dean Mihos from second. The Chanticleers executed their “get him over, get him in” approach early, as Mihos drew a leadoff walk before Blake Barthol laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him into scoring position, setting the table for Watson.
The Chanticleers entered the game ranked second in the nation in sacrifice bunts, with Barthol now tied for the national lead individually with 15 on the season.
North Carolina starter Jackson Rose faced the Chanticleer lineup just once, as he was pulled in the second inning after throwing 47 pitches and losing command. The freshman allowed two hits and one run while striking out three over 1.2 innings.
Sophomore Walker McDuffie relieved Rose with two on and two out in the top of the second and struck out Mihos on a nasty 2-2 slider.
In the bottom half, Cooper Nicholson gave North Carolina the lead with a two-run homer that snuck just inside the left-field foul pole.
Erik Paulsen scored on the play after singling in the previous at-bat to set up Nicholson’s 11th home run of the season.
The Tar Heels put traffic on the bases in the third inning as they began to pick up on Coastal’s freshman starter Jackson Smallets.
With one out, shortstop Jake Schaffner walked, and junior Gavin Gallaher followed with a single to advance Schaffner to second and put pressure on Smallets.
After a six-pitch battle, North Carolina’s top hitter, Owen Hull, lined a ball to left field, but Blagen Pado tracked it down for the second out.
With two outs, catcher Macon Winslow worked ahead to a 3-1 count before Smallets blew consecutive fastballs past him to escape the jam.
After four scoreless innings from the Chanticleers’ offense, freshman Daniel Parker relieved Smallets in the fifth, entering a pivotal moment against a talented North Carolina lineup.
With one out, Carter French laid down a bunt single before Schaffner lined a sharp comebacker up the middle. Parker reacted quickly, snagging it and doubling off French at first to end the threat and potentially spark a shift in momentum.
Right-hander McDuffie retired 10 straight Chanticleers before Watson sliced a sharp double that deflected off Hull’s glove in center field.
In the next at-bat, freshman Jackson Winer drew a seven-pitch walk to put two runners on with one out for catcher Domenico Tozzi.
Tozzi came through with a single to left field, as Watson rounded third and beat Hull’s throw home by inches to tie the game at 2–2.
With two outs in the inning, first baseman Colby Thorndyke reclaimed Coastal’s lead with a single to shallow center, bringing home Winer from second to make it 3–2.
Ty Barrango then loaded the bases after reaching on a fielding error by Schaffner at shortstop, putting a real threat on McDuffie.
Mihos came up and swung at the first pitch and sent a sharp grounder to third, but Nicholson made a strong backhand play and stepped on third for a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Tar Heels right-hander Matthew Matthijs relieved McDuffie in the seventh inning and was unable to record an out.
Barthol greeted Matthijs by roping the first pitch into the left-center gap for a double—his second hit of the night.
“Schnall Ball” took effect for Walker Mitchell, who dropped down a sacrifice bunt fielded by Matthijs, but a high throw pulled Paulsen off first. Mitchell beat the play in a bang-bang call, putting runners on the corners with no outs for Watson.
Watson came through, sending a deep fly ball to left-center that nearly left the yard but hit off the top of the wall. The hit scored Barthol and advanced Mitchell to third, giving Coastal a 4–2 lead and forcing a pitching change for North Carolina, as Folger Boaz entered in relief.
Winer then singled through the right side of the infield, driving in Mitchell and Watson to extend Coastal’s lead to 6–2. The Chanticleers’ bats came alive after three hitless innings.
The speedy outfielder Jordan Taylor entered as a pinch runner for Winer at first and advanced to second on a wild pitch, prompting another pitching change for the Tar Heels as Camron Seagraves replaced Boaz, still with no outs in the inning.
Taylor then advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Brice Estep, who pinch hit for Tozzi.
Taylor put the Chanticleers up 7-2 as he scored on a wild pitch from Seagraves for Coastal’s fourth run of the inning.
After Pado drew a walk and Thorndyke singled, North Carolina turned to its fourth pitcher of the inning as Cameron Padgett replaced Seagraves with two on and one out.
Barrango then delivered with a 0–2 single through the left side of the infield, driving in Pado from second.
Barthol capped the six-run frame with his second hit of the inning, scoring Thorndyke on the play to extend the lead to 9–2.
Darin Horn came on in relief of Parker in the bottom of the seventh and retired the Tar Heels in order, setting them down on strikes 1–2–3 to send it to the eighth.
In the top of the ninth, the Chanticleers added three more runs to extend their dominant lead to 12-2.
Pado was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, then advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Thorndyke, who advanced to second on the play on a throwing error by Nicholson at third.
Barrango came to the plate with runners in scoring position and one out and grounded out to first, allowing Pado to score from third while Thorndyke advanced to third.
Mihos recorded an RBI sacrifice fly to deep right field in foul territory to score Thorndyke and pushed the lead to 11-2.
Barthol tallied his fourth hit of the night on a triple off the wall to deep right-center. The senior finished his night 4-for-5 with two extra-base hits and an RBI, then scored the 12th run on a wild pitch from Boston Flannery.
In the bottom of the ninth, graduate Ryan Lynch came in to close out the game on 18 pitches to secure the 12-2 victory for the Chants.
Parker (2–0) earned the win after delivering in a key spot, highlighted by a momentum-shifting double play in the fifth inning, before tossing 2.0 innings while allowing just one hit and striking out two.
Despite allowing a two-run home run, Smallets turned in a solid outing in 4.0 innings of work, giving up just three hits in his eighth career start.
Watson and Thorndyke combined for six of the team’s 15 hits, with each also driving in a run in the win.
North Carolina used eight different pitchers, and McDuffie (6–2) was tagged with the loss despite an impressive outing in which he retired 10 straight batters and struck out a career-high eight batters over 4.1 innings before allowing two runs.
The remainder of the North Carolina relievers combined to surrender nine runs.
The No. 2 North Carolina Tar Heels surrendered their ninth loss of the season and will have an opportunity to quickly bounce back Wednesday night when they take on Queens at home.
With the win, the Chanticleers improve to 31-13 overall and remain 17-4 in conference play, as they hit the road this weekend to take on Georgia Southern for a three-game conference series beginning Friday night.
About The Author
