Duke spoils Coastal Carolina baseball’s bid for spot in super regional

Coastal Carolina baseball’s magic ran out Monday and so did its season.

The Duke Blue Devils defeated the Chanticleers, 12-3, in the Conway Regional final in front of a school-record 5,102 fans at Springs Brooks Stadium.

Duke advances to the super regional and will travel to Virginia in best-of-three series beginning Friday or Saturday.

The loss ends Coastal Carolina’s season at 42-21. It is the second straight year the Chants lost in a regional final.

“Tonight was one of those best nights of my life and worst nights of my life,” CCU coach Gary Gilmore said. “I’ve been waiting my whole entire career to see this place jammed with that many people excited about our program, excited about what’s going on. Then the worst part is we weren’t able to deliver.”

A depleted pitching staff couldn’t keep Coastal in it

The Chants came into the game riding a wave of excellent starting pitching over the last four games, as Liam Doyle, Riley Eikhoff, and Jack Billings silenced opponents’ bats throughout the weekend.

Doyle threw a 99-pitch no-hitter through six innings in Coastal’s loss to Rider on Friday, and Gilmore once again turned to the freshman to deliver the goods.

But Duke attacked the freshman early, with Doyle allowing his first hit since May. Doyle’s luck ran out when Duke struck the first blow of the contest with MJ Metz’s solo homer in the second inning. Metz hit four homers in the regional and earned MVP honors.

At 150 pitches in four days with one out in the third, Doyle was done for the evening.

Gilmore said after the game the team lacked a pitcher to anchor the rotation during weekend series. He added that CCU courted pitchers in the transfer portal but were unable to land one.

“We tried last summer all summer long,” Gilmore. “It’s no one’s fault, it’s not a knock on my school, it makes it tougher.”

No relief from the relievers

Injuries also thinned out CCU’s bullpen entering the Conway Regional. Neither Doyle nor Eikhoff were routine starters during the season, and rotation regular Matthew Potok was lost in May due to injury. The lack of pitching was so severe freshman Jacob Morrison pitched Sunday but he will have Tommy John Surgery this week.

The lack of options hurt the Chants throughout the tournament. Coastal’s bullpen allowed 22 runs to score during the four-game stretch, including all 11 in CCU’s lost to Rider on Friday.

With a chance to go to the super regional, Gilmore turned first to reliever Darin Horn with two runners on base to try and get out of the third inning against the Blue Devils.

Horn had been called upon to preserve CCU’s waning lead against Rider University in the seventh inning of Friday’s loss. Blue Devil’s slugger Alex Stone’s hit a three-run home run put them up 4-0. Duke got two more runs on Horn in the fourth.

Chants reliever Will Smith came in next to try and quell the rally, but after throwing a wild pitch warming up, he threw two more in game. Smith failed to get an out again and loaded the bases before exiting the game. The Chants avoided danger that inning, but Duke continued to hammer away at Coastal’s relievers as they cruised to victory.

“For me to have to ask Liam Doyle to come back on two days rest is really asking a lot,” Gilmore said. “At the end of the day we didn’t have quite enough in the tank.”

A red-hot offense goes cold

Coastal earned the right to host the Conway Regional at Springs Brooks Stadium by overwhelming opponents all year with their juggernaut offense. The Chants led the Sun Belt Conference in nearly every offensive statistical category, and they continued the pattern with 43 runs in the first four games.

CCU scored first in its three previous games in The Conway Regional, but their bats were silenced by superb pitching from Duke pitcher Alex Gow, who struck out seven batters through four innings.

Coastal only got five hits on the night, and aside from a ninth inning rally, they could not solve the Blue Devils’ pitchers.

Coastal went 28-8 this season in games they got 10 or more hits, but 13-12 when they didn’t, a mark they missed Monday. CCU’s offense was also inconsistent in the Sun Belt Baseball Tournament, only scoring four runs in the final two games.

A touching final send off

Payton Eeles transferred to CCU from Cedarville University for his final season, and became a leader on the team as the year progressed. In the eighth inning with the game out of reach, Gilmore substituted the second basemen out.

Eeles, emotional as he walked off the field, was greeted by a standing ovation from the remaining Springs Brooks Stadium crowd to celebrate a season where he lead the team in batting average. He was met by Gilmore before he made it to the dugout, and the two embraced.

“Ever since (Coach Gilmore) called me that one phone call, I was in a Chili’s parking lot, and I kind of knew this is where I want to be,” Eeles said. “That moment is something I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”

Eeles was named to the all-regional team along with catcher Caden Bodine, Zack Beach, Graham Brown and Eikhoff

Eeles, Billings, Nick Lucky, John Kelly, and Davis Tyndall will all depart the program after this season. Fellow seniors Zach Beach and Graham Brown both have one more year of eligibility if they don’t get drafted.

Morrison and Potok will both be healthy, and it remains to be seen how the transfer portal will affect the Chants entering 2024. Next year will be Gilmore’s final season. The long-time CCU coach said before the regional he would retire after next season and assistant Kevin Schnall would be the Chants’ new coach the following year.