WILMINGTON, North Carolina – A pair of four-run innings helped propel Coastal Carolina (16-11, 2-4 Sun Belt Conference) over UNCW (15-13, 4-5 Colonial Athletic Association), 8-2 Wednesday night at Brooks Field.

The loss marks four straight defeats for the Seahawks after getting swept by no. 13 Oklahoma State in Stillwater over the weekend.

“Not a good effort,” said UNCW Head Coach Randy Hood during Wednesday’s postgame interview. “We’ve got to find a way to get things going back in the right direction really quickly here with Asheville coming in this weekend.”

The Hawks held a 2-0 lead entering the fifth inning of Wednesday’s contest but quickly found themselves playing catch-up ball after surrendering four Chanticleer runs, all with two outs.

UNCW’s pitching will need to be better this weekend against a UNC Asheville team that has scored a total of 31 runs in its last three games.

A series win against the Bulldogs will also do a lot for a Seahawk team that has seemed to lack momentum since its big win against ECU almost a month ago.

After its homestand with UNCA (10-16, 9-12 Big South Conference), the Hawks will enter a stretch of its schedule that offers three conference opponents and back-to-back games against Coastal Carolina.

The Hawks were picked as the favorites to win the South Division in the CAA but currently sit near the bottom. UNCW will need a couple of series wins in the next few weeks to boost its chances of living up to preseason expectations.

“Just got to do a better job from a coaching standpoint,” said Hood. “We’ve got to find a way to get our guys moving in the right direction and that starts with me.”