Cozart Crushes Two Home Runs in Baseball’s Tough Loss at Coastal Carolina
CONWAY, S.C. – The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) baseball team fell 15-9 in a non-conference test against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers on Tuesday night at Springs Brooks Stadium.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Chanticleers got rolling early by piling on eight runs in the bottom half of the first inning. A pair of RBI singles from Caden Bodine and Derek Bender got it started. Blake Barthol then doubled down the line in right to score another. Zack Beach drove in Bender to make it 4-0 on a groundout. Ty Dooley then scored a pair when he doubled down the left field line. Dooley scored in the next at bat on another double from Sam Antonacci, who then scored on a single through the left side by Graham Brown in the next at bat. All in all, Coastal Carolina carried an 8-0 lead after putting up eight hits in the opening frame.
The second inning saw Bender hit a solo home run out to right-center to add one for the Chanticleers, making it 9-0.
Caleb Cozart put the Spartans on the board in the third inning by blasting his 21st home run of the season out to center with the bases loaded for a grand slam. The Chanticleers answered with an RBI groundout from Antonacci that made it 10-4 in the bottom half of the inning.
In the fourth, Tyler Steele singled up the middle to score Luke Holland, which cut the deficit to 10-5.
Bodine singled in the fifth frame to score Antonacci, which pushed Coastal Carolina’s lead back to six, 11-5.
The Chanticleers extended their lead to 14-5 in the sixth inning when Dean Mihos hit a three-run home run out to left-center. Brown then singled to right-center to score another run, which made it 15-5.
Cozart started a rally in the seventh when he pulled a solo home run out to left, marking his 22nd blast of the season and fourth multi-home run game. Holland then scored on a wild pitch with two outs to cut it to 15-7.
UNCG scored two more runs in the ninth when Holland hit his fifth home run of the season out to left to score Jacob Dilley and himself. However, that was all the Spartans could manage in the 15-9 loss to the Chanticleers.
NOTES:
Coming into Tuesday, Cozart was ranked 15th in the NCAA for home runs before hitting his 21st and 22nd on Tuesday night for his fourth multi-homer game of the season.
Holland hit the third home run for UNCG during the ninth inning.
Cozart led the Spartans with five RBI in the contest.
Cozart, Holland, Steele and Truitt each had two hits to pace UNCG.
Brandon Hudson pitched scoreless seventh and eighth innings with one strikeout.
Sam Murchison pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts.
PITCHING RECORDS:
Hayden Johnson: W, 2-2
Jay Miller: L, 1-4
RECORDS:
UNCG: 29-17, 13-5 SoCon
CCU: 28-20, 11-13 SBC
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UP NEXT
With the road portion of their schedule now by the wayside, the Spartans return home next for a three-game series against Samford to wrap up competition against SoCon opponents for the regular season. The series begins Friday, May 10 at 6:00 p.m. and concludes Sunday, May 12 at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
The first 100 fans at Friday’s game will get a FREE clear UNCG cross-body bag!
Courtesy of Connor Wachtel
Strategic Communications Coordinator
UNC Greensboro