Coastal Carolina forced into winner-take-all regional final

All the momentum the Coastal Carolina baseball team took into the start of the NCAA regional finals Monday was stolen by N.C. State as the host Wolfpack raced to a lopsided early lead and forced a winner-take-all second game.

The host Wolfpack used a six-run fourth inning to assert control on the way to a 8-1 win over the No. 2-seeded Chanticleers at Doak Field, setting up a late Monday game for a trip to the NCAA super regionals.

Coastal Carolina (46-16) was in prime position entering the day having opened the four-team double-elimination regional 2-0, including a 4-0 win over NC State, but the Wolfpack (38-21) came back to win an elimination game with Navy on Sunday and another one against the Chants to open play Monday.

Now it’s anybody’s regional to win.

“We’re down to one game. We’ve got to get it done,” Chants coach Gary Gilmore said.

Freshman right-hander Jason Bilous (3-1, 3.96 ERA) will start for Coastal Carolina and is coming off his best outing of the season when he threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings in the Big South championship game last week.

N.C. State will throw sophomore lefty Brian Brown (7-3, 3.55), who pitched 4 1/3 innings in the team’s regional opener Friday. He also started against the Chants back on Feb. 20, giving up four runs on eight hits in just 2 2/3 innings.

It was also announced after the game that Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent has been suspended two games by the umpiring crew after being ejected in the third inning.

The statement from crew chief Danny Mascarro reads: “Coach Avent was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. He continued to argue and according to rule 2-26 (AR7) which state, prolonged or continued arguing, offensive language or excessive expressions directed at an umpire after an ejection by any participant, he is subject to a two-game suspension effective immediately.”

As for the first game, Coastal Carolina squandered an early opportunity while knocking around NC State starter Ryan Williamson, who is headed for Tommy John surgery after the season and was pitching through a torn UCL in his elbow.

The Chants had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the first after hard-hit singles from Anthony Marks and Connor Owings, but Williamson got Zach Remillard to bounce into a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play.

G.K. Young led off the bottom of the second with a single and that was it for Williamson. Unfortunately for the Chants, Wolfpack reliever Will Gilbert was not quite as hittable.

He went a career-long eight innings out of the bullpen while allowing only five hits, one walk and one run – a solo home run by Young in the seventh inning (his 16th homer of the year).

By then the game was already well in NC State’s favor.

“I commend Williamson. I know he’s had arm issues and I guess [has] got to have Tommy John. To go out there and gut it out, I feel for that kid and love to have guys like that on my team,” Gilmore said. “And Gilbert’s the story of the game. It ain’t about my kids. That young man pitched a gem. He was outstanding. To have that young man in your bullpen says a whole lot about NC State.”

The hosts got an RBI single from Even Mendoza in the third to take the lead and then added six runs in the fourth.

Brock Deatherage clubbed a two-run homer and Coastal Carolina starter Zack Hopeck would eventually exit with runners on first and second and two outs. Reliever Austin Kitchen, who has struggled of late after a terrific start to his freshman season, walked Stephen Pitarra to load the bases and then gave up a two-run double to Mendoza and a two-run single to Preston Palmeiro to make it 7-0.

Hopeck (3-3) took the loss, giving up five runs on four hits and two walks and 3 2/3 innings.

Cole Schaefer, meanwhile, helped save the Chants’ bullpen while throwing five innings and allowing only four hits and a run.

NC State may have been a little fired up after Avent was ejected from the game in the bottom of the third inning for arguing a called ball four. After being tossed, he was even more animated, throwing his hat on the ground and repeatedly getting in the face of the home plate umpire and even using a spin move to get past another umpire to continue his argument.

The Wolfpack got out of that frame with another inning-ending double play before going to work offensively.

Young finished 3-for-4 for Coastal Carolina and Kevin Woodall Jr. was 2-for-4, but it wasn’t the overall performance the Chants needed from their lineup. The loss snapped a 12-game winning streak, which was tied for the longest in the country entering the day.

The Chants get another chance, though, as they vie for the program’s third-ever trip to the NCAA super regionals and first since 2010.

This story was originally published June 7, 2016 at 12:33 AM with the headline "Coastal Carolina forced into winner-take-all regional final."