Coastal Carolina baseball stumbles, loses NCAA regional opener
Coastal Carolina baseball will have to fight its way out of the Tallahassee Regional losers bracket if it wants to get back to Omaha.
Head coach Kevin Schnall and the Chanticleers lost 12-10 to Northern Illinois in their first matchup of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. The victory was the first for NIU in the NCAAs in its program history.
With the loss, Coastal will now play Florida State, the No. 10 overall seed and host of the regional, on Saturday at 2 p.m. in a win-or-go-home game.
Chanticleers in control early
Coastal Carolina got on the scoreboard right away on Friday night.
Third baseman Walker Mitchell started the game off with a leadoff double. He was then moved to third thanks to a sacrifice bunt in the next at-bat. Centerfielder Dean Mihos brought Mitchell home with a deep flyout to left field. The sac fly gave Coastal an early 1-0 lead.
The run was the first allowed in nearly a month by Northern Illinois starting pitcher Max Vaisvila.
The Chanticleers kept the offensive momentum going in the second inning. Coastal started the frame with back-to-back singles from Rex Watson and Domenico Tozzi. A throwing error from Vaisvila resulted in both Watson and Tozzi scoring. The sac-bunt-turned-infield-hit from Blagen Pado put Coastal up 3-0. Coastal increased its lead to 4-0 after a sac bunt from Ty Barrango brought home Pado.
Northern Illinois did finally break the seal on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning. The Huskies made it a 4-2 game after scoring two runs on three hits.
Big fourth inning for NIU
The Huskies took the lead in the fourth inning. NIU started the frame with back-to-back hits and made it a 4-3 game after a sac fly from Caden Robertson. Northern Illinois tied the game at 4-4 after a throwing error from Coastal’s pitcher turned a sac bunt into an infield hit for an RBI.
Cole Smith drew a four-pitch walk in the next at-bat, giving Northern Illinois the bases loaded with no outs. Coastal’s relief pitcher, Colby Richardson, plunked the next batter and brought home the runner on third to give NIU a 5-4 lead.
Things got worse for Coastal after Richardson walked the next batter with the bases loaded, extending NIU’s lead to 6-4.
Richardson was taken out of the game shortly after. Coastal’s next relief pitcher, star Darin Horn, gave up a two-RBI single to the first batter he saw. The hit from Marcus Romero gave Northern Illinois an 8-4 lead.
Another two-RBI single, this time from Robertson, extended the Huskies lead to 10-4 heading into the bottom of the inning.
Coastal’s comeback attempt comes up short
The Chanticleers responded to Northern Illinois eight runs in the fourth inning with a few of their own in the fifth.
Coastal made it a 10-7 game after recording back-to-back two-RBI doubles in a two out situation. Coastal’s pitching staff finally found a groove on the mound thanks to Daniel Parker. NIU failed to score another run for the next four innings following its fourth inning outburst.
Northern Illinois added two insurance runs and extended its lead to 12-7 in the top of the ninth. Down to their last out in the game, Mihos came up big time for Coastal.
Mihos sent a two-run home run over the wall in left to cut NIU’s lead to 12-10. Trace Mazon drew a walk in the next at-bat, but Watson ended the ninth inning rally with a lineout.
Tallahassee Regional Scores, Schedule
- Game 1: St. John’s beat Florida State 6-5
- Game 2: Northern Illinois beat Coastal Carolina 12-7
- Game 3: Florida State vs. Coastal Carolina (Saturday, May 30 at 2 p.m.)
- Game 4: St. John’s vs. Northern Illinois (Saturday, May 30 at 6 p.m.)
- Game 5: Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4 (Sunday, May 31 at 1 p.m.)
- Game 6: Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5 (Sunday, May 31 at 6 p.m.)
- Game 7: Rematch of Game 6 if necessary (Monday, June 1 time TBD)
This story was originally published May 30, 2026 at 1:40 AM with the headline "Coastal Carolina baseball stumbles, loses NCAA regional opener."
