Coastal Carolina moved one step closer to the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship title on Tuesday, downing Appalachian State 8-2 in an elimination showdown.
The Chanticleers leaned on a stellar relief outing from Darin Horn, who tossed five shutout innings, struck out eight and limited the Mountaineers to a single run after entering with runners on the corners.
Coastal struck first in the third, plating two runs when Ty Barrango crossed the plate on a throwing error and Trace Mazon followed with an RBI single, pushing the lead to 2-0.
Domenico Tozzi added a solo homer in the fourth, extending the advantage to 3-0 before Appalachian State began to chip away.
The Mountaineers answered with single runs in the fifth and sixth, narrowing the gap to 3-2, but Horn escaped a jam in the fifth with a strikeout that halted a potential rally.
Coastal responded in the sixth with two more runs, as Colby Thorndyke and Barrango delivered RBI doubles, stretching the lead to 5-2.
The Seventh-Inning Surge
The seventh inning turned into a burst of offense; RBI hits from Rex Watson and Mazon, coupled with a throwing error, blew the game open to an 8-2 margin.
Horn finished with a win, improving to 8-1 after allowing just one run in five relief frames, while Cameron Flukey had opened the scoring with six strikeouts over the first four innings.
The Chanticleers outhit the Mountaineers 14-9, with Mazon leading the attack at 3-for-4 and two RBIs, while Blake Barthol, Walker Mitchell and Watson each collected multiple hits.
Nick Dirito took the loss for Appalachian State, surrendering five runs on ten hits in 5.2 innings.