Eagles Edged by No. 15 Chanticleers

Box score.

CONWAY, S.C. – The Eastern Michigan University baseball fell to 15th-ranked Coastal Carolina University, 5-2, Thursday night here at Watson Stadium/Vrooman Field. With the loss the Eagles falls to 2-9 on the season while the Chanticleers move to 17-3 overall.

Head coach Roger Coryell continued to tinker with the lineup, trying to get his Eagles into a groove as the Green and White knocked out nine hits on the evening. Redshirt freshman Todd Graves was the lone EMU player to collect multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with an RBI. On the mound, senior George Biddle gave up seven hits and four earned runs in 6.1 innings of work while striking out four.

Pitching was the key for Coastal, as Andy DeLaGarza collected his fifth victory of the season, allowing eight hits and two runs while striking out a pair in 6.1 innings of work. Kent Altman struck out one and allowed a hit in 1.2 innings, while David Anderson retired a pair in the ninth for his first save.

The Chanticleers got on the board first in the third inning as David Sappelt tripled to right field. He would score on a sacrifice fly to give the host team the 1-0 edge.

However, the Eagles would respond and take their only lead of the contest in the fourth frame. With one out, DeLaGarza walked junior Steve Bradshaw. Senior Patrick Dean followed with a double to put runners on second and third. Junior Jeff Davis grounded out to second, scoring Bradshaw. Graves brought in Dean with a single. The Green and White were looking to tack on more when freshman Aaron Crooks singled through the left side, but CCU was able to throw out Graves at the plate to end the threat.

In the bottom of the fifth, Adam Vrable singled, advancing to third via a hit-and-run before scoring on a Dom Duggan sacrifice to tie the game at 2-2. Then Chris Raber cleared the bases with a homerun to right field. It was his seventh home run of the season, which leads the Big South Conference.

Coastal would add an insurance run in the seventh to cap off the scoring and make it 5-2.

The two squads return to the diamond Friday, March 16, at 6 p.m.

Additional Notes:

Prior to this weekend's three-game series, Eastern Michigan and Coastal Carolina had met just once on the diamond. The Eagles defeated the Chanticleers, 9-8, in a game that eliminated CCU from the 2003 NCAA Lincoln Regional.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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