Top-seeded Coastal Carolina started strong in the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship, defeating No. 9 seed Georgia Southern 8-1 on Wednesday night at Riverwalk Stadium. The event is presented by Troy University.
With the win, the Chanticleers improved to 45-11 and pushed their overall winning streak to 15 games. They now move into the winner’s bracket and will play the winner of No. 4 Marshall vs. No. 5 Louisiana at 8:30 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Pitcher Riley Eikhoff (6-2) led the way for Coastal with a dominant performance. He threw 7.2 innings, allowed eight hits, struck out six, and did not walk a single batter. The Chanticleers’ pitching staff as a whole did not allow any walks and retired 10 of the last 11 batters.
Georgia Southern took an early 1-0 lead with a solo home run that bounced off a train in the second inning. But Coastal responded quickly, scoring four runs in the third. Walker Mitchell’s two-run triple got the scoring started. Blake Barthol and Chad Born followed with RBI hits.
Barthol had a strong game, going 2-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs, and a stolen base. Catcher Caden Bodine reached base four times and scored twice. Ty Barrango and Wells Sykes also added RBI singles, helping Coastal add more runs from the fourth to the seventh inning.
This win marks Coastal Carolina’s 19th straight victory against a Sun Belt Conference opponent.
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