Charleston completes sweep of Monmouth Sunday

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – College of Charleston baseball posted double digit runs for the third-straight day on the Jersey Shore finishing off an emphatic sweep of CAA newcomer Monmouth 12-6 from the MU Baseball Stadium.

Seven Cougars collected multiple hits and the duo of Cole Mathis and Luke Wood each went deep in the win. Wood finished the series with four long balls and Mathis added three as the Cougars posted 10-plus runs in all three games of a weekend series versus a single opponent for the first time since 2008.

Leading Off

Final Score: Charleston 12, Monmouth 6

Location: West Long Branch, NJ

Records: Charleston (22-13, 12-6 CAA), Monmouth (12-20, 3-13 CAA)

How It Happened

Cole Mathis gave himself a 1-0 lead before taking the mound smacking a solo home run to left field in the top of the first.

Tyler Sorrentino made it a 2-0 Cougar lead in the second singling home Trotter Harlan as part of a two-hit, two-RBI day.

Monmouth would tie the game in the bottom half scoring on a solo home run and RBI double.

Charleston quickly responded taking a lead they wouldn’t relinquish scoring four runs before making an out in the top of the third. Will Baumhofer walked to lead things off, Cole Mathis doubled him home, JT Marr brought in Mathis on a single then Wood hit his fourth bomb of the weekend to make it 6-2 Cougars through three.

Five-straight batters had hits in the fifth as Charleston posted five more runs for an 11-2 margin. Cam Dean and Jared Kirven had RBI doubles, Sorrentino had an RBI triple and Joseph Mershon singled in the inning.

Monmouth would answer with three of their own in the bottom half but couldn’t get any closer. The Hawks would score one more in the eighth to make it 11-6 but didn’t threaten between the sixth and seventh.

Joseph Mershon’s RBI triple in the ninth made it 12-6 where it would end on a William Privette strikeout.

Notes

Charleston scored 10-plus runs in each contest of the three-game series for the first time since May 16-17 at Western Carolina.

Five Cougars had multi-hit days in the Sunday finale with Trotter Harlan collecting three.

Luke Wood hit his 4th home run of the weekend and finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBI to lead the Cougar offense in a series sweep. Wood went 8-fo-14 with 9 RBI on the weekend with his first career multi-HR contest Friday afternoon.

Will Baumhofer’s on-base streak reached 24 with a walk, Joseph Mershon pushed his to 23, Cole Mathis’ is at 19 and Cam Dean made it 15-straight reaching base safely.

Mathis’ first inning homer pushed his hit streak to 10, matching Luke Wood’s team-best hit streak earlier in the season.

Charleston’s five-run fifth inning saw five-straight hits, the first time the Cougars had five-straight hits since May 28, 2021 versus Elon.

Cole Mathis hit home runs in back-to-back games becoming the second Cougar to do so in 2023 along with Joseph Mershon.

Joseph Mershon’s ninth-inning triple was his team-leading third of the season and seventh of his Cougar career. Those three triples also set a new career-high for the senior second baseman.

Up Next

Charleston continues its five-game road swing as they head up the Carolina coast for a Tuesday night tilt with nationally-ranked Coastal Carolina. First pitch from Springs Brooks Stadium is slated for 6 p.m.