(18) CCU baseball wins 10th straight, taking down USC-Upstate, 9-2

CONWAY, S.C. – Graham Brown, Zack Beach, and Derek Bender hit a combined four home runs to lead the nationally-ranked No. 18 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers to a 9-2 home win over the USC Upstate Spartans at Springs Brooks Stadium on Tuesday evening. With the win, the Chants improve to 11-2 on the year, while the Spartans drop to 6-7 overall. CCU has won 10 consecutive games since falling in the final game of opening weekend.

Coastal jumped on the scoreboard first in the second inning as Beach hit the first bomb of the day to center field, to become the 31st home run ever hit over the 20-foot batter’s eye in center field. Brown made it 2-0 with his first shot of the day as he drove a solo homer to left center field.

The Chanticleers added four more runs in the home half of the third after USC Upstate walked the bases loaded. Jake Books doubled to right field to clear the bases and scored on a single to center field by Dean Mihos to make it 6-0.

CCU added two runs in the fifth and sixth innings on solo home runs by both Brown and Bender. In the home half of the seventh the Chants plated their final run of the game to lead 9-0.

Upstate scored a run in the eighth and ninth innings to make the final score of 9-2.

The Chants’ starting pitcher Henry Weycker (1-0) held the Spartans in check over 3.0 innings, allowing one hit and striking out three batters. Bryce Schaffer worked 4.1 innings, giving up six hits and allowing one run. Hayden Johnson pitched 1.2 innings giving up one run on two hits, while striking out three.

USC Upstate’s Jake Cubbler took the loss, going 3.0 innings giving up six runs on four hits, three walks with striking out two.

Coastal Carolina will host Big 10 foe Michigan in a three-game series starting on Friday, March 8, at Springs Brooks Stadium with a 4 p.m. ET scheduled first pitch. The games will be streamed on ESPN+.

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