Sunday, May 25
Montgomery, Ala. (Riverwalk Stadium)
1 pm
Southern Miss
44-14
5
vs
7
Coastal Carolina
48-11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Southern Miss
0
1
0
2
0
1
0
1
0
5
10
2
Coastal Carolina
1
1
0
0
5
0
0
0
X
7
11
0
Photo by: Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com
Baseball Falls 7-5 to in Sun Belt Tournament Championship Sunday
5/25/2025 5:10:00 PM | Baseball
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – No 11 Coastal Carolina scored five times in the fifth and then held off No. 12 Southern Miss down the stretch to win the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship 7-5 Sunday afternoon at Riverwalk Stadium.
The Golden Eagles (44-14) saw an 18-game winning streak snapped which had started April 19 in a 15-9 win over Georgia State. The loss ended Southern Miss' two-year run as tournament champions.
Nick Monistere led the Golden Eagles with four of their 10 hits, while Drey Barrett added a couple of singles. Monistere hit one of three home runs for the Golden Eagles as they surpassed the old school mark of 95 in 1997 with 97 for this season.
Down 3-2, CCU scored five times in the fifth inning to break open the game. Caden Bodine, the Chanticleers' leadoff hitter, hit a high chopper that hopped over Monistere's head, legging it out for a double to start the rally. Bodine then scored from second on an errant throw on a sacrifice by Sebastian Alexander. Walker Mitchell then singled home Alexander, before the Chanticleers (48-11) bunched together three more singles and a hit by pitch to account for the remaining runs.
Southern Miss cut the gap with a bases-loaded walk to Matthew Russo in the sixth, but the Golden Eagles left the bases loaded with scoring only one run. In fact, Southern Miss left the bases loaded three times and saw 13 stranded for the game.
Monistere homered to left, his team leading 19th in the eighth, for the final Southern Miss run. The visitors had one more rally in the ninth as they got two more runners on in the ninth, but Ozzie Pratt flew out to right to end the game.
The Chanticleers opened the scoring in the first with a single tally. After a leadoff walk to Bodine, Alexander singled. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners up a base before Blake Barthol knocked in Bodine with a RBI groundout.
Joey Urban tied the score for the Golden Eagles in the second with a deep drive to left, his second homer of the campaign, before CCU retook the advantage in the bottom of the frame on an infield run-scoring single from Wells Sykes.
The Golden Eagles then took their first lead in the third as Ben Higdon tied the game with a solo homer inside the left field fair pole, his fifth, to tie the score at 2-2 to set the home run record. After an out, Tucker Stockman singled up the middle, went to second on a Pratt walk and scored on a two-out Monistere single.
Golden Eagle reliever Landen Payne (2-1) suffered the loss as he allowed five runs (two earned) on five hits and three strikeouts over two innings. CCU reliever Darin Horn went two innings as well and limited Southern Miss to a run on one hit with three walks and no strikeouts to improve to 5-1.
Matt Adams, Monistere and Pratt were each named to the all-tournament team.
An announcement on the NCAA Tournament host sites will take place at 7:30 p.m. later this evening through its social media channels and on the ESPN Bottom Line. The NCAA Tournament Selection Show takes place, Monday, at 11 a.m., on ESPN2.
The Golden Eagles will host a viewing party at Mugshots (204 N. 40th Ave.) and fans are invited to join the team. The doors open at 10:30 a.m.
The Golden Eagles (44-14) saw an 18-game winning streak snapped which had started April 19 in a 15-9 win over Georgia State. The loss ended Southern Miss' two-year run as tournament champions.
Nick Monistere led the Golden Eagles with four of their 10 hits, while Drey Barrett added a couple of singles. Monistere hit one of three home runs for the Golden Eagles as they surpassed the old school mark of 95 in 1997 with 97 for this season.
Down 3-2, CCU scored five times in the fifth inning to break open the game. Caden Bodine, the Chanticleers' leadoff hitter, hit a high chopper that hopped over Monistere's head, legging it out for a double to start the rally. Bodine then scored from second on an errant throw on a sacrifice by Sebastian Alexander. Walker Mitchell then singled home Alexander, before the Chanticleers (48-11) bunched together three more singles and a hit by pitch to account for the remaining runs.
Southern Miss cut the gap with a bases-loaded walk to Matthew Russo in the sixth, but the Golden Eagles left the bases loaded with scoring only one run. In fact, Southern Miss left the bases loaded three times and saw 13 stranded for the game.
Monistere homered to left, his team leading 19th in the eighth, for the final Southern Miss run. The visitors had one more rally in the ninth as they got two more runners on in the ninth, but Ozzie Pratt flew out to right to end the game.
The Chanticleers opened the scoring in the first with a single tally. After a leadoff walk to Bodine, Alexander singled. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners up a base before Blake Barthol knocked in Bodine with a RBI groundout.
Joey Urban tied the score for the Golden Eagles in the second with a deep drive to left, his second homer of the campaign, before CCU retook the advantage in the bottom of the frame on an infield run-scoring single from Wells Sykes.
The Golden Eagles then took their first lead in the third as Ben Higdon tied the game with a solo homer inside the left field fair pole, his fifth, to tie the score at 2-2 to set the home run record. After an out, Tucker Stockman singled up the middle, went to second on a Pratt walk and scored on a two-out Monistere single.
Golden Eagle reliever Landen Payne (2-1) suffered the loss as he allowed five runs (two earned) on five hits and three strikeouts over two innings. CCU reliever Darin Horn went two innings as well and limited Southern Miss to a run on one hit with three walks and no strikeouts to improve to 5-1.
Matt Adams, Monistere and Pratt were each named to the all-tournament team.
An announcement on the NCAA Tournament host sites will take place at 7:30 p.m. later this evening through its social media channels and on the ESPN Bottom Line. The NCAA Tournament Selection Show takes place, Monday, at 11 a.m., on ESPN2.
The Golden Eagles will host a viewing party at Mugshots (204 N. 40th Ave.) and fans are invited to join the team. The doors open at 10:30 a.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Horn, Darin (5-1)
L: Payne, Landen (2-1)
S: Lynch, Ryan (7)
Batting:
HR: Monistere, Nick 1 ; Urban, Joey 1 ; Higdon, Ben 1
RBI: Monistere, Nick 2 ; Russo, Matthew 1 ; Urban, Joey 1 ; Higdon, Ben 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Monistere, Nick 1 ; Urban, Joey 1 ; Higdon, Ben 1 ; Stockman, Tucker 1 ; Pratt, Ozzie 1
HBP: Russo, Matthew 1
Batting:
2B: Bodine, Caden 1 ; Mitchell, Walker 1 ; Thorndyke, Colby 1 ; Pado, Blagen 1
3B: Bodine, Caden 1
RBI: Mitchell, Walker 1 ; Barthol, Blake 1 ; Thorndyke, Colby 1 ; Sykes, Wells 3
SH: Alexander, Sebastian 1 ; Mitchell, Walker 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bodine, Caden 2 ; Alexander, Sebastian 1 ; Mitchell, Walker 1 ; Tozzi, Domenico 1 ; Thorndyke, Colby 1 ; Pado, Blagen 1
SB: Mihos, Dean 1 ; Sykes, Wells 1
HBP: Tozzi, Domenico 2
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
4
RBI
2
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
INF
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OF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
C
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