The bats were hot for UNCW baseball this weekend as the Seahawks scored a total of 31 runs through the three game series at #23 TCU to take two of the three games.

On Friday, Tanner Thach got the Seahawks on the board early with a two-out homerun. Then, after TCU got out to a 4-2 lead, UNCW got hot and scored 11 straight runs, with four coming in the fifth inning and seven coming in the eighth. This stretch was highlighted by a Thach single up the middle that knocked in two runs, a Taber Mongero double to score two more, and even more Thach RBIs as he doubled to bring in two more in the eighth. John Newton hit a two-run homerun to cap off the 11-0 run. TCU’s 2 run eighth inning was not enough as UNCW won this one 14-6.

Thach, the freshman who ranks second in the CAA in RBIs, finished 3-5 with five RBIs. Ethan Chenault got the win on the bump for UNCW, allowing zero hits over the 10 batters he faced, and allowing only one run. This moves Chenault to 2-2 on the season.

On Saturday, the Horned Frogs got one back from the Seahawks in emphatic fashion, filling up the scorecards for 17 runs on 14 hits. Brock Willis and Aiden Evans both hit solo homers for the Seahawks, but the Seahawks only amounted five hits for five runs and took a 17-5 loss to even the series.

In the series finale on Sunday, TCU went up 1-0 in the first before once again being victim to an avalanche of Seahawk hits and runs. There were four second inning runs led by a Brock Wills triple and a three-run third inning, emerging from three straight two-out singles by Trevor Marsh, Bryan Arendt, and Taber Mongero. The seven straight Seahawks runs wouldn’t be enough to comfortably escape Fort Worth with the series though, especially after TCU answered with four runs of their own in the bottom of the third. A run in the fifth and another run in the sixth set up a three run bomb from Alec DeMartino to crack it open, as the Seahawks ended up holding on for a 12-6 win and a series win as well. 

The bats may stand out in the box score, but the pitching on Sunday held it together as Connor Kane tossed over five innings in relief, allowing only three runs on two hits and striking out six. Kane gets the win to put him at 2-1 for the year.

With the series win, UNCW advances to 21-13 on the year, but also picked up a pair of ranked wins to put the Seahawks at 4-4 against nationally ranked opponents. The Seahawks currently sit at 10-4 and first place in the CAA. The Seahawks now play Campbell (27-8), who ranks third nationally in runs scored, on Tuesday to give UNCW a look at the future CAA opponent here at Brooks Field. 

Tuesday’s game will be at 6 p.m. in Wilmington at Brooks Field. The game can be found on FloSports and on the radio at ESPN Wilmington 101.7. For more on the first place Seahawks, visit UNCWsports.com or @UNCWbaseball.