Late Rally Falls Short; Troy Drops Opener at No. 16 Coastal

Friday, March 22

Conway, S.C.

5:00 PM

Troy University

10-12, 0-4

Coastal Carolina

17-4-1, 4-0

Troy

Coastal Carolina

Late Rally Falls Short; Troy Drops Opener at No. 16 Coastal

3/22/2019 9:04:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Troy Athletics Communications

CONWAY, S.C. – Troy was able to get the go-ahead run on base with one out in the ninth but fell just short as No. 16 Coastal Carolina pulled out a 4-2 victory in the Sun Belt series opener at Springs Brooks Stadium Friday.

Sparked by a leadoff single from Rigsby Mosley, Troy (10-12, 0-4) followed with a walk from Dalton Sinquefield and a clutch RBI double from Sadler Goodwin to put the pressure on the 16^th-ranked Chants in the ninth. Chase Smartt then walked to load the bases with one out, but the Trojans were unable to capitalize.

Coastal Carolina (17-4-1, 4-0) struck first in the contest, as Jake Wright sent a solo homer to right center with two outs in the first. Wright finished the game a double shy of the cycle – hitting a homer in the first, a triple in the third and a single in the sixth. His sixth-inning single set up a two-run homer from Zach Biermann to push the lead to 4-0.

The Trojans loaded the bases three times total – in the sixth, the eighth and the ninth – but failed to push a run across in any of the situations. They did score a run in the seventh, however, on a two-out RBI single from Sinquefield. Mosley, Sinquefield, Logan Cerny and Manning Early each put crooked numbers up in the hit column.

Levi Thomas (3-2) wore a tough-luck loss, despite fanning nine batters in 5.2 innings on the mound – he allowed four runs on seven hits without walking anyone. Troy's bullpen – Rush Hixon, Ryan Fultz and Lance Johnson – kept the game within reach by combining to pitch a scoreless final 2.1 innings.

CCU starter Zach McCambley (4-0) fanned a career-high 10 batters and scattered just three hits in five innings. Alaska Abney entered in the tight, ninth-inning situation and shut the door to pick up his third save of the year.

Quotable – Troy head coach Mark Smartt
"If we play like that the rest of the year; I like our chances. They're a good team, we knew that coming in. But the competition and the fight that I saw from our team has to be brought every night, and that's the challenge for this team."

Sound "Smartt" with Your Friends
The last six regular-season meetings between Troy and Coastal have all been decided by three runs or fewer, dating back to the 2017 series opener at Springs Brooks Stadium – when the Trojans won 4-0.

Notable
• Rigsby Mosley made a loud return to the playing field after missing the last week and a half with a concussion. The sophomore finished the game 3-for-5 at the plate and recorded his 10^th double of the season – he's now reached base in 13 straight ballgames.

• Dalton Sinquefield stayed hot at the plate with yet another multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with two walks and an RBI. Sinquefield has put up multiple hits in five of his last seven games.

• Troy left 14 runners on base in the contest, the most by a Troy team since it left 17 on base at ULM on May 12, 2018.

• The big at-bat of the game pitted a pair of freshmen, Troy's Logan Cerny and CCU's Alaska Abney, with two outs and the bases loaded in a two-run game in the ninth. Abney stabbed a sharp comebacker from Cerny and tossed it to first to seal the game. The last time the two Lawrenceville, Ga., natives faced off was when Cerny hit a walk-off homer off Abney to win the Georgia 7A State Championship last season.

Up Next
The Trojans and Chanticleers meet for game two of the series at 1 p.m. (CDT) Saturday at Springs Brooks. Troy will send RHP Bay Witcher to the mound in the start, while Coastal is set to send LHP Austin Kitchen.