Box Score Baseball Falls to South Alabama 6-5

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The Coastal Carolina University baseball team (4-11) had a 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the seventh, but the University of South Alabama (11-6) scored two in the seventh and one in the ninth to defeat the Chanticleers 6-5 March 10 in Mobile, Ala.    South Alabama scored three runs in the bottom of the first off senior Mike Valter (Bloomingdale, N.J./Briarcliffe C.C.).  Tyler Jones singled to lead off, stole second and moved to third on a single from Patrick Weaver.  Jones scored on a groundout by David Freese.  With the bases empty, Jeff Cunningham singled and was brought home by a shot over the left field fence by Guillermo Martinez.   Coastal answered with five runs in the top of the second.  CCU had three straight singles to open the frame.  Senior Aaron Verrett (Jupiter, Fla./Polk C.C.) reached on an infield single and moved to third on a single from junior Josh Eachues (Newberry, S.C./Newberry).  He scored on a single from sophomore Derek Martin (Barnwell, S.C./Barnwell).  After a strikeout and a fielder’s choice, junior Chris Raber (Coplay, Pa./Whitehall) and junior Brant Peacher (Milton, Fla./Florida State) walked, scoring Eachues.  The big hit came from junior John Mariotti (Toronto, Ontario/Gulf Coast C.C.), who tripled in just his third at-bat of the season, clearing the bases and making it 5-3 CCU.   The score stayed the same until the seventh, when the Jaguars scored two runs to tie the game at five.  Junior reliever Travis Risser (Palmyra, Pa./James Madison) walked David Doss and Joel Collins to open the inning.  Jeff Morris sacrificed both runners over and Jones brought them both in on a single off junior Andy DeLaGarza (Ossian, Ind./Norwell).  DeLaGarza gave up a single to Freese, but got Cunningham to ground out to end the inning.   Jones started the Jaguar ninth with a drag bunt single.  He was sacrificed over by Weaver.  Freese was intentionally walked and DeLaGarza hit Ben Daw to load the bases.  Martinez then walked to end the game.   Valter settled down after the first inning to shut the Jaguars down the next five.  He gave up six hits and struck out two.  The win went to Chase Christianson, going 2.1 innings with four strikeouts and two hits.   Peacher and Verrett had two hits apiece, while Mariotti had three runs-batted-in.  For South Alabama, Jones had three hits, while Doss was 2-for-3.   Coastal and South Alabama will meet Saturday, March 11 at 2 p.m. CT.