No. 11 Coastal Carolina faces Wake Forest for the second time this season in a neutral-site matchup Tuesday night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C. The Chanticleers previously defeated Wake Forest in a 10-4 thriller on March 10, 2026, in Conway, SC.
Coastal Carolina (23-8, 11-1 SBC) took two of three from South Alabama in a rollercoaster weekend, opening with a run-rule victory before suffering a lopsided loss and ultimately responding with a walk-off win in the series finale.
Coastal starter Luke Jones turned in a dominant outing Thursday night, tossing six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out five to earn the win.
The Chanticleer offense supported Jones as eight of nine starters recorded at least one hit, led by Jordan Taylor, Blagen Pado and Ty Barrango who each had two hits apiece.
Coastal suffered a setback against South Alabama in game two of the series, marking their first Sun Belt loss after winning 32-straight games against conference opponents.
Starter Ross Norman struggled early in the loss, allowing seven earned runs on nine hits through 5.0 innings pitched. The Jaguars totaled 18 hits and 15 runs in the game, with six batters delivering multi-hit performances.
The Chanticleers bounced back in Saturday’s rubber match, where junior catcher Brice Estep hit a game-winning RBI single to left. Estep finished the game 2-for-5 with a home run in the fourth inning.
After trailing 1-0, Coastal answered in the fourth inning with a pair of two-run home runs from Dean Mihos and Rex Watson to take a 4-1 lead. Watson, one of the hottest hitters in college baseball, added his team-leading 11th home run of the season.
With two outs in the sixth, Darin Horn’s throwing error to first on a dribbler off the bat of Blake Guerin allowed two runs to score, pulling within one. Later in the inning, Paxton Bigby crossed the plate on a walk to Marc Stephens, capping a five-run frame and giving South Alabama a 7-6 lead.
After a few scoreless innings, “Schnall Ball” took effect in the bottom of the ninth as Coastal capitalized on a throwing error following a bunt by Blagen Pado, allowing Watson to score from third and tie the game. The miscue set the stage for Estep’s clutch game-winner, lifting the Chanticleers to a walk-off victory.
The Demon Deacons (23-10, 8-7 ACC) earned their sixth straight series win on the road over Pitt, taking two out of three games with a loss in the series finale.
In game one of the series, Wake Forest matched its season high, launching four home runs against the Panthers off the bats of Javar Williams, Jimmy Keenan, Dalton Wentz and Luke Costello to lift the Demon Deacons to an 8-2 victory.
Sophomore starter Chris Levonas was phenomenal for Wake Forest, tossing a career-high 6.1 innings, allowing just three hits and two runs, and retiring 13 straight batters from the second to the sixth innings.
Wake Forest put up a season-high 22 runs to claim the series win on Saturday, with eight of the nine starters recording at least one hit in the game, with six batters having multi-hit games, and six players having multi-RBI games.
The bottom of the order was the main striking force for the Demon Deacons as the five-through-nine hitters combined to go 8-for-15 with six RBIs, five extra-base hits and 11 runs scored.
Sophomores Dalton Wentz and Luke Costella each had three hits apiece, pacing the offense.
Wake Forest tallied 11 extra-base hits on the afternoon, including three home runs and eight doubles, to power past Pitt and improve to 6-1 all-time in series against the Panthers since joining the ACC in 2013.
The Panthers walked off Wake Forest in the bottom of the ninth of the series finale, 4-3, as they were trailing by one when they scored two runs on sacrifice flies from AJ Nessler and Caden Dulin.
Sebastian Pisacreta led off the bottom of the ninth with a single to left before Zach Walsh entered as a pinch runner. Joey Baran then laid down a bunt to move Walsh into scoring position and reached safely on a throwing error by the Wake Forest pitcher. Anthony LaSala, pinch-hitting for Derrick Tarpley Jr., was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs.
This sequence set the stage for Nessler to tie the game with a sacrifice fly to deep left, scoring Walsh. With runners on the corners and one out, Dulin followed with a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in the game-winning run.
The Deacs are the designated home team for the contest and look to take game two of the three-game season series over the Chanticleers.
Sophomore right-hander Duncan Marsten (1-2) will take the bump for Wake Forest, where his last outing came last Tuesday in a 1-0 loss against High Point, where he threw 6.1 innings, allowing just one run on four hits while striking out six.
Sophomore Jaxon Appelman gets the start for the Chanticleers after a dominant outing last Tuesday against The Citadel, tossing 6.0 innings of no-hit ball while allowing just one run and striking out eight in a 3-2 win.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and fans can tune in on ACC Network Extra.
About The Author
