UNCW Finishes Sweep, Completes Rally to Win CAA South Division
Hawks go worst-to-first in three weeks
Not even a month ago, the question was whether last-place UNCW could find a path to the CAA Championship.
The Hawks didn’t just find a path.
They blazed a trail right through the competition, winning eight straight conference games to finish an improbable march back to the South Division title, capping it with late-game heroics in back-to-back comebacks over Charleston on Saturday and Sunday.
Boxes: UNCW 7-2 | UNCW 7-6 | UNCW 8-4
With the division crown locked up, the Hawks receive a first-round bye when they return to Brooks Field for CAA Championship, which runs May 26-30.
Marsh Madness, Pts. II & III
No one on the UNCW (29-17, 13-8) roster has had a weekend like the one Trevor Marsh just produced.
Heck, few guys on any team have.
In all, Marsh finished 6-11 with two homers, seven RBI and four runs scored, with all of his RBIs coming in the sixth inning or later.
“Unbelievable weekend by him,” Coach Randy Hood said.
The part-time starter delivered a two-run homer in Friday night’s opener for valuable insurance, and on Saturday, poked a 3-1 pitch to left field for the game-winning RBI, scoring Cole Weiss from second for the walk-off win.
On Sunday, Marsh was on deck when Brooks Baldwin walked to load the bases with the game tied 4-4 in the bottom of the eight inning.
“Me and Coach Hood looked at each other and smiled,” Marsh said.
Marsh knew what he was looking for all along, and ran the count to 3-0 before taking two strikes, still waiting for that perfect pitch.
It finally came when Charleston (22-21, 11-0) pitcher Connor Campbell (5-3) threw inside on a full count — an area that makes the lefthanded Marsh an option vs. a lefty pitcher.
“He just stays on the ball real well and he understands that if the ball is away, and he’s got to swing, he knows how to go with it,” Hood said. “If they come in, he can do damage to it.
“What an at-bat by Trevor.”
It’s the kind of weekend that Hood has expected all along for Marsh, who had played in 13 games with six starts since the start of April, going 3-23 with two RBI and nine strikeouts.
Called upon to replace the absent Noah Bridges this weekend, Marsh delivered what was easily his best stretch of the season.
“Just a lot about confidence with a lot guys, especially Trevor,” Hood said. “He’s a guy that should be an everyday player and has struggled some throughout the season, but got an opportunity the past few days to step in there and do some things, and has taken advantage of it.”
Flipping the Script
During UNCW’s 4-10 stretch from March 20-April 14, the Hawks just couldn’t get what they needed, when they needed it.
Sometimes it was pitching, others it was hitting and occasionally, even defense.
Things have changed since the Hawks began the current 14-3 run with the sweep of UNC Asheville, as UNCW has won four straight games decided by one run — including Saturday’s 7-6 win — and six of eight over that span.
At one point this season, UNCW was 2-6 in games decided by a single run — something completely counter to the ‘Cardiac Hawks’ moniker developed through the years.
“We knew that we had to turn it around and we had to keep fighting and keep being tough,” Marsh said. “We had multiple meetings as a team, talking about how we had to be grinders at the plate, pick each other up and do our jobs. I feel like that gave us good momentum to do that this weekend.”
Since the first game of the UNCA series, UNCW has outscored opponents 49-21 from the sixth inning on, including a 23-3 margin in the eighth inning.
Closing Strong
When Adam Smith moved into the starting rotation vs. UNCA, it made Hunter Hodges and Ethan Chenault UNCW’s primary closers and setup men — a pretty big ask of true freshmen.
Both have been up to the task, as Chenault has gone 2-1 with two saves, allowing just one unearned run on two hits over 10.1 innings, while Hodges is 1-1 with two saves, giving up two earned runs (three unearned) on five hits in 12 innings, striking out 13.
Not unexpectedly for true freshmen, both dealt with midseason struggles before bouncing back to finish strong.
“(Hunter’s) really got things going right now, throwing well for us,” Hood said. “He’s a tough kid, man. Really, he’s got great stuff, fastball but really knows what to do with a breaking ball and knows how to use it. It’s a plus-plus, pitch.”
In a matter of a month, Hodges’ ERA dropped from a season-high 4.43 to 3.24 with a WHIP of 1.02, while Chenault has brought his from 6.14 to 3.91 with a WHIP of 1.00.
Battling Back
It’s hard to say that a team that was chosen to win the division overcame the odds, but there’s no other explanation for what UNCW just did.
Things were pretty bleak back on April 25, when the Seahawks were 19-15 overall, 5-7 in the CAA after splitting a doubleheader at Elon and facing the real possibility of missing the conference tournament on their home field.
“Three weeks ago, our backs were against the wall,” Hood said. “We had to win probably six out of nine just to make sure we were in the tournament.”
There’s plenty of coachspeak out there about telling a team to just go play the games and let things work out, but that wasn’t Hood’s approach.
UNCW Baseball expects to compete for CAA championships — regular season and tournament — and in the process, put itself on position for NCAA Tournament at-large selection.
“I never have a problem letting guys know where we’re at, because I think that’s important as a program to know what our expectations are and know where we’re at and know what we’ve got to do,” he said.
His team did him a couple better than the six wins he envisioned, going 8-1 over the final three series, including 3-0 in what they call ‘Championship Sunday’ games.
“Baseball is a game of adversity, and we had a couple of tough weekends in a row,” shortstop Taber Mongero said. "We knew if we kept fighting and kept doing what we do, we knew we had three weekends in a row at home.”
Coleder and Weisser
When there are championships on the line, Cole Weiss finds another gear.
The 2018 CAA Tournament MVP and two-time all-tournament selection showed his clutch gene vs. Charleston with a two-RBI single that broke a tie in Friday’s game, leading off with a single before scoring the game-winning run on Saturday and knocking in a run on a sacrifice fly on Sunday.
Weiss’ batting average is down a little by his standards this season, but he’s raised his game defensively, committing just three errors on 128 chances (.977) at third base this season, becoming one of UNCW’s most consistent defenders.
Chances are, he’ll continue raising his game at the plate, too.
Over the past three full seasons, Weiss is 54-163 (.331) with 33 RBI, 11 doubles and two homers in May and June.
There’s no substitute when it comes to big-game experience, and Weiss has proven he’s up to the task time and again.
All-CAA Watch
Brooks Baldwin solidified his postseason honors with another great weekend, going 7-14 with two RBI and four runs scored, adding one stolen base.
UNCW might just have the league’s newcomer of the year in Mongero ( as the transfer added to his resume with a two-run single that tied Sunday’s game, as he finished the weekend 3-11 with two RBI and two runs scored.
He’s now second on the roster with a .307 batting average, 25 RBI and 11 sacrifices on the season, and pushed his streak of error-free games to 11. In all, Mongero has just one error in his past 21 games.
The Streak
Charleston’s Campbell committed a balk in the fourth inning Sunday, giving UNCW’s opponents eight on the season.
UNCW, meanwhile, has gone 59 games and 455 days without surrendering a free base on a balk.
Past and Present
It was an awesome weekend all around for UNCW baseball, past and present.
In addition to the sweep in Wilmington, a few former Seahawks had strong outings.
Seth Frankoff got his first big-league start, tossing 4.2 innings for Arizona, allowing two runs on three hits with four strikeouts and four walks.
Greg Jones blasted a walkoff grand slam for Bowling Green (A+) on Saturday night. He’s 5-11 with two HR and eight RBI in three games.
Ryan Jeffers hit a walkoff HR to lift St. Paul (AAA) to a win on Saturday night, and followed it up with an RBI on Sunday.
Josh Roberson was promoted to Beloit (A+) after three appearances with Jupiter (A) where he allowed one hit over five innings, striking out eight and walking two.
Alex Royalty struck out five, allowing three hits and three runs in five innings as he started for Akron (AA) on Friday night.
Clark Cota struck out two and didn’t allow a hit in an inning on Saturday night as he made his first appearance for Stockton (A).
Opponents were hitless over 1.1 innings against Justin Crump on Friday night for San Jose (A). He’s allowed two hits over 5.1 innings this season, striking out eight and walking five.
Next Up
UNCW heads to Chapel Hill on Tuesday night for the season’s only meeting with North Carolina this season.
The Tar Heels (24-22, 17-16 ACC) are coming off a sweep of Louisville, and need every win they can get as they fight for an at-large selection for the NCAA Tournament.
The Seahawks finish the regular season with three games at No. 18 Charlotte, with the series opener set for Thursday night at 6 p.m.
The 49ers (37-16, 24-8 C-USA) are enjoying one of their best seasons in program history and wrapped up the Conference USA regular-season title on Saturday.
With Charlotte ranked No. 22 in the RPI rankings and UNC at No. 45, UNCW has an opportunity to improve its own, which currently stands at No. 81.
That number currently keeps the Hawks out of the at-large bid conversation, but between this four-game stretch and the possibility of seeing Northeastern (No. 37) later on, there’s a chance to make significant leaps.
“I still believe if we can go and win some games this week, who knows about an at-large bid?,” Hood said. “It’s always about building your resume, and I believe we’re that type of program. Obviously the stretch earlier kind of hurt us, but we’ve still got quality teams on our schedule and we’re going to go play to win games.”