West Virginia Falls Big to Coastal Carolina
The West Virginia Mountaineers gave up four home runs as the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers added five runs in the final two innings to take a 10-5 comfortable decision Saturday afternoon.
West Virginia leadoff hitter Austin Davis delivered a single into left field, then Vincent Ippoliti hit a one-out single into right-center to move Davis to third and Victor Scott plated him with a sacrifice fly to give the Mountaineers a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
Coastal Carolina answered in the bottom of the inning after Adam Tulloch retired the first two batters, he kept the inning alive, beaning Parker Chavers. He took second before Alex Gattinelli hit a hot ground ball to shortstop Mikey Kluska, who couldn’t handle it and was short on the throw to first, and McCormick couldn’t pick out of the dirt as Chavers scored from second to tie the game at one.
In the bottom of the fourth, Gattinelli and BT Riopelle hit back-to-back runs to give the Chants a 3-1 advantage.
West Virginia responded in the top of the fifth when Braden Barry hit a leadoff single into right-center and then swiping second base to set up a two-out RBI double from Matt McCormick going opposite field. Vincent Ippoliti ripped a single into left field, scoring McCormick before Scott hit a hard ground ball back up the middle to bring in Ippoliti and take a 4-3 lead. Luke Barrow would come in and finish the inning.
Nick Lucky produced a one-out single through the right side before Eric Brown cleared the left field to retake the lead, 5-4.
In the top of the sixth, Kluska worked a one-out walk and took second on an errant throw to first base and advanced to third on a wild pitch before Barry hit a sacrifice groundball to short to tie the game at five.
Coastal Carolina plated two in the seventh to regain a two-point advantage and added three more insurance runs in the eighth as closer Shaddon Peavyhouse shut the door in the ninth and the Chanticleers went on to win 10-5.
West Virginia takes on Bryan in the final game of the Coastal Carolina Univerisity three-game invitational with the first pitch set for 11:00 am EST.
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