COURTESY CCU ATHLETICS
CONWAY – For the third consecutive weekend, Coastal Carolina swept its league series, beating Appalachian State 6-2 in the teams’ 2017 regular-season finale Saturday afternoon at Springs Brooks Stadium.
The Chanticleers (37-18-1, 22-7-1 Sun Belt) end the regular season by winning 12 of their final 14 games. They win the Sun Belt East Division title and will be the No. 1 seed at next week’s Sun Belt Championship, played in Statesboro, Ga., on the campus of Georgia Southern University. Coastal will the play the lowest seed remaining after Tuesday’s play-in games when first round of double-elimination action begins on Wednesday. Coastal’s tournament opener is at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Matt Beaird played a role in each of Coastal’s first four runs and Josh Crump scored twice to cap a day of celebration at Springs Brooks Stadium. Prior to the game, Coastal Carolina honored its three 2017 baseball graduates (Cole Schaefer, Jordan Gore and Andrew Beckwith) as well as the three Chanticleer baseball seniors (Schaefer, Beckwith and Alex Cunningham).
Beaird hit a two-run home run and his sacrifice bunts in the third and fifth innings set-up CCU’s first two runs. Crump scored both of the early runs after drawing leadoff walk in each inning.
