Chanticleers' Marks can bring spark to CWS final

ByMITCH SHERMAN
June 29, 2016, 3:20 PM

— -- OMAHA, Neb. -- With the college baseball season down to one game and Coastal Carolina involved, it's a safe bet that if the Chanticleers forge an important rally Wednesday night in the championship game of the College World Series finals, Anthony Marks will fit smack in the middle of it.

"He's a human spark plug, man," second baseman Tyler Chadwick said after CCU evened the best-of-three series Tuesday night with a 5-4 win over Arizona at TD Ameritrade Park.

Marks, the bearded, arm-thrusting, undersized, cartoon-like senior left fielder, did it all from the leadoff spot. His one-out single in the third inning plated the Chanticleers' first two runs, and Marks ignited a three-run rally in the top of the eighth with his third hit.

This is just what he does.

Marks is hitting a team-best .393 (11-for-28) in Omaha with a .469 on-base percentage.

He sparked a ninth-inning rally to beat North Carolina State in regional play and another to win the super regional at LSU in walk-off style.

"We're not done yet," Marks said. "You want to bring home what you came here for."

Marks came to Coastal Carolina in 2012 as a walk-on from Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. He had scholarship offers from Point Park, an NAIA school, and Division III Washington & Jefferson College.

His connection to CCU came through Jeff Rubinsak, Marks' summer-league coach who played for the Chanticleers' Gary Gilmore at South Carolina-Aiken in the early 1990s.

"I went to a camp after my senior year," Marks said, "and Coach Gilmore said he liked my speed. He said I would have a jersey and a chance to prove I could play at this level.

"He's given me countless opportunities that I can never repay him for. The stuff that he's done for me and the chances he's given me and believed in me, it really warms my heart for sure. I owe him a lot."

Marks' teammates recall meeting him four years ago. He wore basketball gear to a baseball workout.

"His swing was god-awful," Chadwick said. "But as soon as we started playing the game, he had the biggest chip on his shoulder that I've ever seen. He plays like I would expect of someone from Pittsburgh -- just blue-collar like he's fighting against the whole world."