Box Score David Anderson went 3-5 and Anthony Meo pitched seven solid innings to lead No. 1 Coastal Carolina past No. 6 High Point, 8-4, in Game 7 of the 2009 Royal Purple Big South Baseball Championship, May 22 at historic McCormick Field in Asheville, N.C. With the victory, the Chanticleers improve to 44-14 and advance to tonight's 7:00pm match-up against No. 3 Liberty for a chance to earn a berth in Saturday's Championship round. High Point is eliminated from the tournament and ends its season at 21-32.
Coastal Carolina struck first David Anderson hit his third career triple off the centerfield wall scoring Adam Rice all the way from first base. Rice reached on a fielder's choice which forced out Rico Noel who had drawn a one-out walk.
High Point threatened in the third inning which began with a leadoff single to rightfield by Pablo Rosario. After an unsuccessful bunt attempt was fouled out to the first baseman, Rosario stole second base on a 1-1 pitch. A pop-up and groundout ended the inning stranding the runner.
After two quick outs in the third inning, the Chanticleers tacked on a pair of runs for a 3-0 lead. Anderson hit a ball just out of the reach of a diving Rosario for a double. Tyler Bortnick doubled him in and the third consecutive double of the inning by David Bowman brought in Bortnick.
Once again HPU got its leadoff man on when Max Fulginiti singled to leftfield to start the fifth inning. He was erased on a strike 'em out throw 'em out double play and Rosario lined out to centerfield to end the inning.
Coastal took control of the game scoring five runs in the next two innings. In the fifth, Noel singled and stole second base to start. Another single by Rice put runners on first and third. Noel would score on a double-play groundout. A four pitch walk to Bortnick, Bowman homered to leftfield for a 6-0 lead after five. Steve Davis reached in a fielding error to start the sixth inning. A sacrifice bunt and groundout put him at third. He would score on a single to leftfield by Noel. Another error put runners on the corners again. Anderson would bring in the final run for Coastal Carolina with a single to rightfield, making it 8-0 CCU after six full innings.
But High Point rallied in the seventh inning and pushed home four runs to cut the deficit to 8-4. Alfie Wheeler doubled to right and scored on Bill Manion's single, which extended his hitting streak to 24 games. Billy Alvino singled to advance Manion to second. Alvino would be wiped out on a Fulginiti fielder's choice, which moved Manion to third, but Kyle Mahoney singled in Manion with the Panthers' second run. Rosario scorched another liner but was caught by the CCU rightfielder at the warning track. After High Point loaded the bases with two outs, a fielding error scored Mahoney and Fulginiti to make the score 8-4.
Matt Rein relieved Meo in the eighth and shut down the Panthers' offense the final two innings. Meo earned the win (9-2) after blanking High Point for the first six innings and limiting the Panthers to two hits in that span. He finished the day with six hits and four runs (two earned) allowed in seven innings, while fanning six batters.
Brian Jones (2-7) suffered the loss for High Point. He gave up nine hits and six runs in five innings, while striking out five. Alvino had the only multi-hit performance for the Panthers picking up a pair but seven starters did collect a hit. Wheeler and Alvino both finished the year hitting an even .400, the first time High Point has ever had two hitters finish a season over the .400 mark.
Coastal Carolina Head Coach Gary Gilmore
"We were in Radford's shoes today. We had our back to the wall. Meo threw as good as a six innings as we had all year. Matt Rein came in and saved the day for us. The double play ball in the eighth was huge. That was huge for those two men (Steve Davis and Taylor Motter)."
High Point Head Coach Craig Cozart
"Our team represented themselves well today. I want to thank the seniors for the four years they put into this program and establishing the foundation of what is to come from High Point."
