Box Score Baseball Forces Second Championship Game in Dramatic Fashion More Information:
Aaron Verrett’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth lifted No. 1 seed Coastal Carolina to a 4-3 win over No. 2 seed Winthrop in game 10 of the 2005 Bojangles’ Big South Baseball Championship, forcing a necessary game 11 to determine the Big South Tournament champion. The result marks the third straight season the tournament has gone to the necessary title game.
Verrett’s homer made a winner of
Mike Costanzo (8-1) for the second straight game. Costanzo pitched two innings of relief and went 1-4 at the plate. Jon Wilson suffered the loss for Winthrop after entering the game in the ninth frame and recording one out. Coastal and Winthrop are meeting for the fifth time in the Big South title game and have combined for 10 of the 16 tournament championships.
Winthrop (42-20) struck first with two runs in the top of the first inning. Chris Carrara and Heath Rollins opened the game with singles, followed by RBI hits from Jacob Dempsey and Kevin Roberson. In addition, Eagles starter Ryan Nasiatka mowed down Coastal through the first three innings, allowing just two hits. But in the fourth frame, Coastal tied it at 2-2 as Costanzo singled and scored on
Tommy Baldridge’s base hit, and
Michael DeJesus later crossing the plate on Verrett’s fielder’s choice.
It remained 2-2 until the seventh inning, when Coastal (48-13) moved ahead after
Josh Eachues reached third on a three-base error and was driven home by
Jon Foisy. The lead was short-lived, however, as Winthrop tied it at 3-3 in the top of eighth. Costanzo came on to pitch and walked Daniel Carte to lead off the inning. Carte advanced to third on Jacob Dempsey’s double and scored following an error on the play.
Nasiatka lasted 3.1 innings for Winthrop, allowing two runs on four hits. He was relieved by Ray Stencel , who tossed 4.2 innings with an unearned run. Coastal starter
Kevin Salmon, after allowing two runs and four hits in the first inning, settled down and finished with seven innings pitched, eight hits allowed, two walks and three strikeouts.
