CONWAY, S.C. – St. John’s scored three runs in the top of the 10th to hand Coastal Carolina 7-4 loss Monday afternoon at Springs Brooks Stadium. The Red Storm were 4-0 at the 18th annual Caravelle Resort’s Baseball at the Beach this weekend, while the Chanticleers fall to 1-3 to start the season.
Coastal Carolina will be back in action on Wednesday when it hosts rival College of Charleston at 4 pm. The Chants will then host Ball State, George Mason and West Virginia for the Caravelle Resort Tournament this weekend (Feb. 24-27). Overall, the Chants are opening the season by playing nine games in an 11-day span.
The Red Storm got out to an early lead as John Valente started the game with a single, moved to second on a passed ball and advanced to third on a ground out. Anthony Brocato, who finished with four RBI, plated Valente with an RBI ground out.
Coastal got on the board in the second. With two outs, Dalton Ewing reached on an infield single and Peyton Isaacson followed with a single to right. Jordan Gore knotted the game at 1-1 with an RBI single up the middle.
St. John’s got that run back plus another in the top of the third, Jamie Galazin hit a leadoff double and, after a sacrifice but, scored on an RBI ground out by Valente. Jesse Berardi followed. A throwing error on a failed pickoff moved Berardi to third and Brocato took advantage with an RBI single to give the Red Storm a 3-1 lead.
The Red Storm pushed their lead to 4-1 in the fifth. Valente singled and took third on a Berardi single. Brocato’s ground ball to third was enough to score Valente for the three-run lead.
In the home half of the fifth, the Chants trimmed their deficit to one, 4-3, with a pair of runs. Coastal got a leadoff walk from Gore and he scored on a Cory Wood’s first career triple. Billy Cooke walked to put runners on the corners. Kevin Woodall Jr., lined an RBI single down the third base line to score Wood.
Cole Schaefer worked out of jams in the sixth and seventh (second and third jam in the sixth and a bases loaded jam in the seventh) to keep it a one-run game. Then, in the eighth, Coastal’s Seth Lancaster tied the game at 4-4 with his first home run of the season, an opposite field blast to left field.
In the top of the 10th, Michael Donadio reached on a leadoff single and Mike Antico walked. After a strikeout, Robbie Knightes doubled off the left field fence to score Donadio. Berardi was intentionally walked to load the bases and Brocato drew a four-pitch walk to force in the second run of the inning. Then, Troy Dixon was hit by a pitch to earn an RBI the hard way and give the Red Storm the 7-4 lead.
Turner French (1-0) earned the win in relief. He pitched 2.1 scoreless innings and allowed one hit and one walk with two strikeouts. Bobby Holmes (0-1) suffered the loss as he allowed three runs on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts in 2.1 innings.
