Conway, S.C. - Coastal Carolina baseball team took a 2-1 lead into the ninth only to see the Citadel fight back to score three runs in the ninth inning to win, 4-2, on Wednesday afternoon, Mar. 2 at Charles Watson Stadium.

The game was scoreless for the first four innings as Coastal starter sophomore lefthander Andy DeLaGarza (Ossian, Ind./Norwell) and the Citadel starte, junior Ken Egelton, were locked in a solid pitching duel.

In the fourth, Coastal drew first blood as Aaron Verrett (Jupiter, Fla/Polk C.C.) led the inning off with a walk and advanced to second on throwing error by the catcher. He took third on a single from Dom Duggan (Cranberry Twp., Pa./John Carroll) and came home to score on the RBI single from senior Chris Todd (Seattle, Wash./Bellevue C.C.) t o give CCU an early 1-0 lead.

The game remained 1-0 Coastal until the seventh inning. Mike Costanzo (Springfield, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) led off the bottom of the frame with a rising line drive, opposite field homerun to left field, to give Coastal an insurance run and make the score 2-0 Coastal.

DeLaGarza with a rising pitch count, was relieved by senior righthander Mike Andreas (Hanover, Pa./Georgia Tech) with one away in the top of the eighth inning. Andreas was greeted rudely as the first two batters seniors Chris Ard and Josh Stackley doubled and singled, respectively.

This prompted another pitching change as freshman lefthander Donnie Presley (Leesburg, Va./Notre Dame Academy) came into the game. The first player he faced, Chris Swauger, hit a high chopper to the third that Costanzo was able to glove, but unable to throw, that drove in a run to cut the margin to 2-1. Presley was relieved by senior Byron Binda (Stafford, Va./North Stafford) who put out the flames by induced a 643 double play to get out of the inning and preserve the one run lead.

The top of the ninth began well for Coastal as Binda got the first Citadel batter, Trent Weathers, to hit one right in front of the plate for the first out of the frame. Matt Matuila and Will Coker followed with singles to put runners on second and third with one away in the inning. Tripp Cappleman’s bases clearing double gave the Citadel a 3-2 lead, a lead that the would not give up the rest of the game. Matt Covington added the insurance run on a sacrifice fly for a 4-2 lead.

The lead would hold as reliever Link Saunders retired senior Jon Foisy (Ridgecrest, Calif./Cerro Coso C.C.) on a groundout, and Costanzo and pinch hitter Adam Pernasilici (Tecumseh, Ontario/St. Anne’s) on strikeouts to pick up the win. The losing pitcher for Coastal was Binda, who is 1-1 on the season. DeLaGarza for Coastal pitched seven and a third shutout innings, scattering four hits while striking out seven.

Coastal will next be in action on Friday, Mar. 4, as they welcome James Madison to Charles Watson Stadium for the start of the Springmaid Beach Resort Rumble. Game time is slated for 4 p.m. The Citadel returns home to face Stonybrook on Friday, Mar 4, evening at 6 p.m. at Riley Park.