CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina University baseball team (20-23) split a doubleheader with Texas-Pan American (21-26) April 29 in Conway, S.C. The Chanticleers fell to the Broncs in game one 2-1 in 11 innings and won the nightcap 9-7.

The first game was scoreless through the first 6 1/2 innings. Coastal broke the shutout in the bottom of the seventh. Sophomore Derek Martin (Barnwell, S.C./Barnwell) walked to open the inning. He moved up on a sacrifice by junior Matt Rademacher (Bay City, Mich./Michigan). Martin went to third on an infield single by freshman Tyler Bortnick (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor). Junior Chris Raber (Coplay, Pa./Whitehall) brought Martin home on a sacrifice fly to left.

The Broncs tied the game in the eighth. Louie Alamia walked to open the inning. Texas-Pan American then put runners on first and second as T.J. Gilmer reached on a bunt single. Alamia went to third on a failed pickoff by freshman David Anderson (Lexington, S.C./White Knoll). Osiel Flores then brought Alamia home on a single through the left side.

Coastal put runners on first and second with one out in the 10th, but UTPA starter Dane Mason got out of the jam by striking out junior Adam Vrable (Bay City, Mich./Grand Rapids C.C.) and getting junior Matt Sutton (La Grange, N.C./UNC Wilmington) to ground out.

The Broncs scored the winning run in the 11th. Zach Smith walked to open the frame. Brady Honeycutt popped up his sacrifice bunt attempt over freshman Bobby Gagg’s (Hamburg, N.J./Wallkill) head. He then threw wild to second base trying to force out Smith. Smith went to third on the error and scored on a single from Leighton Autrey.

Mason earned the win for UTPA, going 10 innings and giving up nine hits, one run and striking out three. Junior Andy DeLaGarza (Ossian, Ind./Norwell) had another stellar outing but ended with a no-decision. He struck out seven in seven-plus innings and allowed four hits and a run. The loss was tagged to junior Travis Risser (Palmyra, Pa./James Madison), who gave up an unearned run in 1.2 innings.

Bortnick had three hits to lead the Coastal offense. Raber and Sutton had two hits apiece. For the Broncs, Gilmer had two hits.

Texas-Pan American opened the second game by scoring a run in the first inning. Alamia walked, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a double by Flores. Coastal came back and scored four runs in the bottom of the frame. Raber walked and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Vrable. He scored on a triple by junior Brant Peacher (Milton, Fla./Florida State). Anderson brought in Peacher with a single to right and Sutton followed with a single. Freshman David Sappelt (Saxapahaw, N.C./Graham) doubled to score Anderson to make it 3-1 Chants. Senior Mike Fuentes’ (Miami, Fla./North Florida C.C.) infield single scored Sutton with Coastal’s fourth run.

In the second, the Broncs added two runs on an Autrey RBI groundout and an Alamia run-scoring single. Coastal got those two runs back in the bottom of the second. Raber was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a Vrable single. Peacher moved both runners over and Raber scored on a wild pitch by Kelly Casares. Sappelt’s single scored Vrable to make it 6-3 Coastal.

A single by Smith scored Flores to make it 6-4 in the fifth and the Broncs tied the game in the top of the seventh. Joshua Talley walked and moved to second on a bunt single by Patrick Brooks. Both runners moved up 90 feet on a Smith sacrifice bunt. Pinch hitter Lyndon Bartosh brought in a run on a single. Then, a pickoff attempt by junior Kevin Marrie (Clarksville, Md./River Hill) was wild, scoring Brooks.

In the bottom of the seventh, Fuentes and Martin both walked with one out. Raber walked to load the bases and Vrable came through with a single to right, scoring Fuentes and Martin.

Talley singled for the Broncs in the eighth, scoring Alamia to make it 8-7, but the Chanticleers answered in the bottom of the eighth, as a bunt single by Fuentes scored pinch runner Justin Huff (Albany, Ga./Darton College). The Broncs went down in order in the ninth as the Chants took 2-of-3 in the series.

Marrie earned the win, going 2/3 of an inning and giving up one hit and one run while striking out a Bronc. Freshman Pete Andrelczyk (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Twp.) earned his first save of the year, pitching the final two innings with two strikeouts.

Vrable, Sutton and Sappelt had two hits apiece for Coastal. Flores was 3-for-5 with an RBI for the Broncs.

Coastal takes the midweek off for finals and then heads to Lexington, Va., to face the Virginia Military Institute Saturday, May 6 at 3 p.m.

NOTES: Coastal leads the all-time series with the Broncs 4-2... Coastal outhit UTPA 9-8 in the loss, while being outhit 12-9 in the win... Both teams left 11 runners on base in game two... UTPA’s Alamia extended his hitting streak to 23 games... Marrie is now tied with freshman Austin Fleet (Edmond, Okla./Santa Fe) for the team lead in wins with four.