Eagles Even the Series With 10-3 Win Over Chants

STATESBORO, GA. – The No. 20 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers fell 10-3 to the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday afternoon in Statesboro, Ga., as the Eagles evened the series 1-1. With the loss, the Chanticleers dropped to 23-11 on the season and 8-6 in Sun Belt play, while the Georgia Southern improved to 18-16 overall and 9-5 in league play.

Coastal’s offense recorded four hits as Sam Antonacci (1-for-4, RBI), Derek Bender (1-for-3), Graham Brown (1-for3, HR, R, RBI), and Ty Dooley (1-for2, R) all recorded one hit each, including Brown’s ninth home run of the season.

The Chanticleer pitching staff recorded 13 strikeouts but walked 11 batters. CCU starter Cameron Flukey worked 4.2 innings, giving up three runs on four hits with four walks and seven strikeouts. Bryson Shaffer (1-3) suffered the loss, going 0.2 innings and allowing five runs on four hits with one strikeout.

The Eagles tallied eight hits that included three doubles as Josh Tate (2-for-5, BB, 2Rs), Jarrett Brown (2-for-3 2 2Bs, 2BBs, 2Rs, 3RBIs), and Kent Schmidt (2-for-3, 2BBs, R, 2RBIs) recorded multiple hits on the day. Georgia Southern’s pitching duo of Ben Johnson and Mitchell Gross (2-2) held the CCU offense to only four hits and three runs. The Eagles’ starter Johnson worked 5.1 innings, giving up four hits for three runs with five strikeouts, while Gross threw the final 3.2 innings giving up no runs and no hits and striking out three batters.

In the first two innings, both pitchers were able to do no wrong as Coastal’s Flukey allowed two base runners on one hit with four strikeouts and Georgia Southern’s Johnson matched him by allowing no runners and no hits.

The Chanticleers broke open the scoring in the top of the third as Dooley reached on a two-out single before scoring on Antonacci’s double to right center to lead 1-0. The Eagles evened it up at 1-1 after a leadoff walk by Cade Parker. Tate put runners on first and second with no outs before Schmidt singled to center to score Parker from second.

Georgia Southern took its first lead in the home half of the third after a double by Jonathan Jaime, who would score on a Chanticleer throwing error to make the score 2-1 for the Eagles.

Coastal answered in the top of the fifth on Brown’s solo shot down the left-field line to tie the game at 2-2. The Eagles opened the home half of the frame with back-to-back walks to Brown and Schmidt before Brown advanced to third on a long fly out to right field by JD Kaiser. Georgia Southern executed a perfect sacrifice squeeze to score Brown to take a 3-2 lead.

In the sixth inning, the Chanticleers responded with the tying run after Blake Barthol reached after getting hit on the back foot. Bender moved Barthol to third with a single to left before Caden Bodine hit a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Barthol.

Georgia Southern used four hits to score five runs in the sixth inning to take command of the game. Parker reached first after getting plunked and moved to third on a single by Tate before Sam Blancato walked to load the bases. Brown followed with a double to clear the bases and scored on Kaiser’s single to left center. After a call to the CCU bullpen, Schmidt scored on a fielding error by the Chanticleers to make the score 8-3.

After a one-out walk to pinch hitter Chad Born, the Eagles rolled over a 5-4-3 double play to end the visitors’ chances in the top of the seventh. Georgia Southern added two more in the bottom of the seventh inning on five walks to wrap up the scoring at 10-3.

Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern will meet for the series finale on Sunday, April 14. The first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET. The games will be streamed on ESPN+.