In front of a record crowd of 5,102 inside Springs Brooks Stadium, the No. 8 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers fell behind early and struggled to get any offense going in a 12-3 loss to the No. 17 Duke Blue Devils in the championship game of the NCAA Conway Regional.
No. 1-seeded Coastal (42-21) had its season come to an end for the second consecutive season in the NCAA Regional championship game, while No. 2-seeded Duke Blue Devils (38-22) will head to the Super Regional hosted by Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. Last year, the Chants fell in the NCAA Greenville Regional championship game versus host East Carolina.
Coastal’s offense, which was one of the top-15 offenses in the nation all season long, hit just .156 (5-for-32) overall, .182 (2-for-11) with two outs, .222 (2-for-9) with runners in scoring position, and .231 (3-for-13) with runners on base for the game.
The Chants’ five hits came from five different players in super senior Nick Lucky (1-for-4, 2B), senior Graham Brown (1-for-4, 2B, RBI, run), senior Tanner Garrison (1-for-1, run), sophomore Derek Bender (1-for-3, BB, run), and freshman Dean Mihos (1-for-1, 2B, 2 RBIs).
Duke’s offense, which has also been one of the best in all of NCAA Division I baseball this season, had six extra-base hits on the night and hit .438 (7-for-16) with runners on base in the win.
Conway Regional Most Outstanding Player MJ Metz (3-for-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBIs, run) led the way with a home run, double, and three RBIs, which was matched by fellow power-hitter Alex Stone (1-for-4, HR, BB, 3 RBIs, 2 runs) and his three-run home run that blew the game open.
Taking the loss for the Men in Teal on the mound was freshman Liam Doyle (3-1), who returned to the bump after 6.0-hitless innings on Friday (June 2) versus Rider, threw 2.1 innings in the start on Monday. He gave up three runs on three hits, one walk, and one strikeout in the loss.
The win fell to Charlie Beilenson (6-3), as the reliever struck out three Coastal hitters over 2.0-hitless innings in the fifth and sixth innings after taking over for starter Alex Gow, who fired 4.0-scoreless innings with one hit, three walks, and seven strikeouts.
Just like they have done all weekend, the Duke Blue Devils used the long ball to jump out to an early lead, as Metz ripped a solo home run over the Coastal bullpen in left field in the bottom of the second inning to put the home team on top 1-0 after two innings played.
Coastal looked to get the run back in the top of the third inning, as Payton Eeles worked a two-out walk and abruptly moved up to second on a throwing error by the Duke pitcher on a pickoff attempt at first base.
Freshman Caden Bodine nearly gave the Chants the lead with a deep fly ball down the right-field line that sailed just foul by a mere few feet before a strikeout ended the inning with the Chants stranding another runner on base.
However, in the next half inning, the Blue Devils went back to the long ball as Stone hammered a three-run home run just over the wall in left-center field with two outs to extend the Duke lead to 4-0 heading into the fourth inning of the game.
The Blue Devils added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth frame with a lead-off walk, single through the left side, a wild pitch, and a two-run single up the middle from Luke Storm to push the lead out to 6-0.
After back-to-back walks, which included two wild pitches, loaded the bases for the Blue Devils, CCU reliever Levi Huesman picked up a huge strikeout and then got some defensive help from Eeles as he made a diving catch on a line drive to the right side of the infield to help get the Chants out of the inning without any more damage done.
Yet the Duke offense continued to pour it on, scoring one run in the fifth on an opposite-field solo home run by Giovanni DeGiacomo and four more runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning, highlighted by a two-run single from Metz and an RBI base hit from DiGiacomo to push the lead to 11-0.
Duke added a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the eighth inning before the Chants broke up the shutout bid in the top of the ninth inning with back-to-back RBI doubles from Brown and Mihos to put the final score at 12-3.
NCAA Conway Regional All-Tournament Team
- Most Outstanding Player - MJ Metz, Duke University
- Catcher - Caden Bodine, Coastal Carolina University
- First Base - Zack Beach, Coastal Carolina University
- Second Base - Payton Eeles, Coastal Carolina University
- Third Base - Jack Winsett, Rider University
- Shortstop - Alex Mooney, Duke University
- Outfield - Graham Brown, Coastal Carolina University
- Outfield - Damon Lux, Duke University
- Outfield - Tyler Albright, Duke University
- Designated Hitter - MJ Metz, Duke University
- Pitcher - Riley Eikhoff, Coastal Carolina University
- Pitcher - Alex Gow, Duke University