CCU moves on to Big South title game

Coastal almost let it slip away, but the Chants hang on to a 8-6 victory over Winthrop, sending the Eagles home and themselves to the Big South Tournament Championship Game.

For the third time in the tournament, Coastal scored in the first inning. Scott Woodward walked, and after David Sappelt struck out, Woodward stole his fourth base of the tournament. Dock Doyle walked, and both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch by Winthrop starter Ryan Schwartz. Tommy Baldridge then notched an infield single to score Woodward and Doyle later scored on Adam Rice’s single to center.

In the second frame, Coastal pushed its lead to 3-0 when Rico Noel tripled to the gap in right-center field with one out and scored on Woodward’s bunt for a base hit. In the third, the Chanticleers went ahead 4-0 when Baldridge doubled to center, moved to third on a sacrifice by Rice, and scored on Tyler Bortnick’s infield single.

Coastal starter Cody Wheeler escaped a jam in the top of the fourth. With one out, Bryn Henderson doubled to center and moved to third on Billy Froehlich’s infield single. Wheeler then wild pitched Froehlich into scoring position, but settled down and fanned Eddie Rohan swinging and John Murrian looking to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard.

After Coastal increased its lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning, the Eagles chased Wheeler after loading the bases on a single by Eddie Tisdale and walks to Henderson and Froehlich. David Anderson relieved Wheeler and Rohan put Winthrop on the board with a two-run single that scored Tisdale and Henderson to make the score 5-2. The Eagles scored their third run in the inning when Froehlich scored on an error by Bortnick. Anderson then induced a double play groundout to get out of the inning.

The Chanticleers added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth and regained its five-run lead in the seventh on Bortnick’s two-run home run, his sixth of the season. The margin was short-lived, as Winthrop battled back and loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth against new Coastal pitcher Joey Haug.

After Rohan struck out, Murrian scored Tisdale with a sacrifice fly, then an error by new Chanticleer first baseman Derek Martin allowed Henderson to score and cut the lead to 8-5. A fielding error by Noel that would have ended the inning allowed Froehlich to cross the plate and pulled Winthrop within two runs at 8-6. But Haug retired Tony Brunetti on a groundout to end the rally.

Pete Andrelczyk entered in the ninth and recorded a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his ninth save and the Chanticleers’ Big South-record 13th Championship game berth. Bortnick finished 2-for-4 with 3 RBI, while Baldridge had three hits in the win. Wheeler improved to 6-0 on the year after going 5.1 innings and allowing two earned runs, four hits in addition to his four strikeouts. Schwartz (6-7) suffered the loss, as he allowed five runs (all earned) and eight hits in four innings. He struck out five. Tisdale and Rohan each had two hits for the Eagles.

The game marked the seventh time this tournament that a team has scored in the first inning, and all seven teams are 7-0 thus far in the championship.