Chanticleers too much for Mountaineers

Conway, SC – The Mountaineers baseball team ended their stay in Myrtle Beach with a 5-2 loss to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. For the most part, the Mountaineers bats were quiet and took too long to heat up to make much of a difference.

Junior Braden Zarbnisky made his 2018 season debut both on the mound and at the plate today for the Mountaineers. Zarbnisky looked sharp on the mound minus a couple of at bats. He went three innings giving up two runs and struck out six Chanticleers batters.

Coastal Carolina put together some good at bats to generate a couple of runs early in the 2nd and 3rd innings, then received a boost from third baseman Seth Lancaster hitting a two run home run to extend the lead to 4-0.

The 7th inning showed the most excitement from the Mountaineer lineup when shortstop Jimmy Galusky and second baseman Kyle Gray hit back-to-back home runs to cut the lead in half at 4-2. The Chanticleers would get one of those runs back after an RBI double from Lancaster to put the lead back up to three.

The Mountaineers did however, show signs of life in the final frame as they loaded the bases up for the heart of the order. Ivan “Pudge” Gonzalez grounded out to third to end the game.

The Mountaineers conclude their trip to Myrtle Beach with a 1-3 record beating Illinois and losing to Coastal Carolina and VCU twice. This brings West Virginia to a 2-5 record on the season. Their next game will be on the road this Friday at Western Kentucky for a weekend series.