RALEIGH -When Coastal Carolina baseball players woke up Tuesday morning, they trailed 5-3 in the top of the ninth inning of the Raleigh Regional title game.
That’s the situation they faced after rain forced the suspension of their contest with N.C. State late Monday night. But Tuesday, with only two outs at their disposal, they rallied for four runs to beat the Wolfpack 7-5 and earn just their third trip to the Super Regional round of the NCAA baseball tournament. The Chanticleers (47-16) will play at LSU (45-19) in the best-of-three series beginning Saturday at 9 p.m.
At one point in the ninth, the Chanticleers were down to their final strike. G.K. Young, the first batter up when the game resumed Tuesday afternoon, grounded out to first to plate a run and pull Coastal within 5-4. But that gave them two outs, and Tyler Chadwick started the next at-bat with an 0-2 count.
So when he took a pitch off the knee and was granted first base, it gave them new life. Seth Lancaster stepped up next and drove a two-run single to right field to push Coastal ahead 6-5. Billy Cooke added an insurance single to increase the lead to 7-5, and Chanticleers reliever Mike Morrison sat down N.C. State in order in the bottom of the ninth to seal the win.
