CCU baseball crushing records - and opponents - in Sun Belt Tournament

Coastal Carolina Baseball faced the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks in a doubleheader on Saturday, May 25, 2019, during the Sun Belt Tournament hosted in Springs Brooks Stadium.

In the beginning of the first game, it looked as though Coastal might be out of the running for the championship game, but a home run by Jake Wright in the top of the third that brought in two runs was just the start of a record-breaking day for CCU.

Right-fielder Kieton Rivers claimed his first home run of the night in the top of the sixth inning, also bringing in two runs for Coastal and tying up the game.

Shortly after that, the game was delayed for a little over an hour due to lightning in the area. But Coastal was explosive after the break.

After the delay, ULM struggled with pitching and Coastal took advantage of that. At the top of the eighth inning, ULM allowed four walks and nine runs, bringing the score to 19-10.

Rivers smashed his second home run of the night in the top of the ninth inning. Wright followed right behind him with his second home run of the night. With Cam Pearcey’s first career grand slam in the ninth, Coastal set a new Sun Belt Tournament record of total runs scored in a tournament game, 26, and tied the record for number of home runs hit in a tournament game, 5. (The team also hit five home runs in the previous game.)

Center fielder Parker Chavers played a huge role in the game, batting 5-for-5, which ties the record for the most hits in a game in Sun Belt Tournament history.

RHP Matt Eardensohn was also on fire yesterday. Once brought in after the delay, Eardensohn only allowed for two hits and one run throughout five innings, striking out five, with a total of 73 pitches thrown.

Coastal Carolina and ULM combined to set a new Sun Belt Tournament record with 36 total runs scored (final score 26-10). The previous record was 34 in 2010. CCU's 26 runs also broke the previous record of 22, which has been held by Jacksonville since 1994.

With the Championship game on the line, Coastal went into the second game of the doubleheader versus ULM still swinging, scoring five in the first inning. Chavers continued his hitting streak into the second game with a home run his first up to bat, bringing in two runs and making him 6-for-6 for the night.

The Chanticleers went on to score seven more runs through the third inning, with help from Rivers, Mike Koenig and Scott McKeon. BT Riopelle’s sacrifice fly in the third took the score to 9-2.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, C. Bell of ULM hit his second home run of the night to bring the score to 6-10. However, it was not enough for ULM.

Pitcher Jay Causey was brought in at the top of the eighth inning and shut out the first three batters he faced. As Coastal entered the top of the ninth, the crowd erupted in cheers as Causey struck out the first batter; after the second batter struck out swinging, every Coastal fan in the stadium was on their feet cheering. Causey ended the game with a looking strike out. The final score of the game was 6-10.

Coastal’s 71 runs through the tournament so far shatters the previous Sun Belt record of 61 set in 2010.

Coastal will play the No. 1 seed Georgia Southern in the Championship game, Sunday, May 26, 2019, at 1 p.m. at Springs Brooks Stadium. If CCU wins, it will be the second-straight championship appearance. Coastal defeat Troy last year to advance to the NCAA Regionals that took place at Springs Brooks.

The winner of the championship game will advance to the NCAA Regionals. Locations and times of the regional games will be released Monday at noon.