CONWAY, S.C. – Coastal Carolina scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth to break a 7-7 tie and defeat the West Virginia Mountaineers 9-7 on the final day of the Baseball at the Beach Tournament on Monday afternoon in Conway, S.C.
 
With the win, the Chanticleers moved to 3-1 on the season, while West Virginia ended the weekend at 3-1 with the loss.
 
Coastal was led offensively by lead-off hitter Austin White (1-for-4, SF, 3 RBIs) and first-baseman Christopher Rowan, Jr. (2-for-3, HR, BB, 3 RBIs, 2 runs) as both transfers drove in a game-high three RBIs in the win.
 
The Chants also picked up three hits from junior Cooper Weiss (3-for-3, BB, 2 runs), two hits and two RBIs from transfer Matt McDermott (2-for-3, 2 RBIs, SB), and two hits from junior Eric Brown (2-for-4, 2 runs).
 
WVU was led at the plate by Victor Scott II (2-for-3, HBP, BB, run, SB) and Grant Hussey (1-for-4, HR, BB, 3 RBIs, run).
 
The Coastal pitching staff was solid once again on Monday, as the bullpen allowed just two hits and three unearned runs, while walking four, and striking out five over 4.2 innings.
 
Super senior transfer Elliot Carney got the start and settled down after giving up a three-run home run in the first inning to throw 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on four hits, two walks, and four strikeouts.
 
The win went to reliever Jacob Maton (1-0), as the redshirt junior righty got the Chants out of a jam in the seventh and pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth, striking out two over 1.1-hitless innings. The save went to sophomore righty Teddy Sharkey (2), as he pitched around two walks in the ninth by striking out the side.
 
West Virginia reliever Jacob Watters (0-1) was saddled with the loss, as he gave up two runs on three hits, one walk, and three strikeouts in 2.0 innings of work out of the bullpen.
 
The two teams opened the scoring early, as Hussey belted a three-run home run over the wall in right field to put the visitors in front 3-0 after just one-half inning of play.
 
The Men in Teal answered with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, as Brown hit a deep fly ball to the wall at straight-away center field where the WVU centerfielder camped under the long fly ball and watched it hit off his glove and go to the ground which allowed Nick Lucky to race all the way around from first to score on the play.
 
The error proved to be huge, as Rowan, Jr. followed with a single to left-center field to score Brown from second to put the Chants down just one 3-2 after just one inning of play.
 
The Mountaineers added to their lead in the top of the second with the help of a walk, stolen base, and a Coastal throwing error which allowed the visitors to double-up the Chants at 4-2 midway through the second inning.
 
Carney pitched around a single in the fourth for his second-straight clean inning before the Chants took their first lead of the game in the bottom half of the inning on a two-run RBI-single with the bases loaded from McDermott and a sacrifice fly to right field off the bat of White to put the home team on top 5-4 with five innings to play.
 
WVU threatened in the top of the fifth only to see West Virginia native Jonathan Blackwell induce a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play to keep the Mountaineers off the scoreboard for the third consecutive inning.
 
The Chants' bats stayed hot in the bottom half of the fifth inning, as Brown hit a single off the pitcher's throwing hand and advanced to second on a throwing error. Two pitches later, Rowan, Jr. blasted a two-run home run over the left-center field wall for his first home run as a Chant and extended the home team's lead to three at 7-4 heading into the sixth inning.
 
West Virginia took advantage of two more Coastal miscues in the field, a hit-by-pitch, a bases-loaded walk, and a sacrifice fly to plate two more runs in the top of the sixth to cut the CCU lead to one at 7-6 midway through the sixth frame.
 
After the Chants stranded a runner in the bottom half of the inning, the Mountaineers tied the game up in the top of the seventh on another Coastal error, a stolen base, and then a wild pitch with the runner on third to tie the game up at 7-7 midway through the seventh.
 
The bats woke back up for the home team again in the bottom of the eighth, as the Chants put together three consecutive hits following a walk to plate two runs on a White bases-loaded single up the middle through the WVU defense to put the home team back on top at 9-7 with one inning to play.
 
Sharkey would go strikeout, walk, strikeout, walk, and strikeout in the ninth to close the door on the win.
 
Four of the seven runs for the Mountaineers were unearned and came with the help of five Coastal errors. However, the Chants did turn two double plays and stranded eight WVU base runners in the win.
 
Coastal will host the Carolinas Coastline Classic next weekend, Friday through Monday, Feb. 25-28. The Chants will host Illinois, Ball State, Rutgers, and Middle Tennessee over the weekend.

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