Ninth-inning rally lifts Coastal Carolina past Wolfpack

Published 1:28 am Wednesday, June 8, 2016

RALEIGH (AP) — Seth Lancaster singled home the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning, and Coastal Carolina rallied past North Carolina State 7-5 Tuesday and advanced to the super regionals of the NCAA Tournament.

The second-seeded Chanticleers (47-16) erased a two-run deficit with a four-run ninth, and will play either Rice or LSU on Saturday in a super regional series.

Top-seeded N.C. State (38-22) led 5-3 in the ninth when play was suspended late Monday night because of heavy rain. Coastal Carolina was batting with one out and the bases loaded.

G.K. Young started the rally with a run-scoring groundout off Evan Braband, who then plunked pinch-hitter Tyler Chadwick with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases again. Lancaster hit a liner that eluded diving right fielder Brock Deatherage, scoring two runs, and Billy Cooke followed with an RBI single.

Mike Morrison pitched a perfect ninth for his 10th save.

S. CAROLINA 10, UNCW 5

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Madison Stokes drove in three runs and South Carolina won its fourth straight to capture the NCAA Tournament’s Columbia Regional with a 10-5 victory over UNC Wilmington on Tuesday.

The Gamecocks (46-16) host Oklahoma State, which ousted No. 7 national seed Clemson last weekend, in the best-of-three super regionals starting Saturday. That winner gets a spot in the College World Series.

That seemed an unlikely goal after South Carolina was stunned at home, 5-4 by Rhode Island, in its regional opener Friday night. But they found their offense and timely pitching to advance to their first super regional since 2013.

It happened for a second consecutive game against the Seahawks (41-19), who fell behind 5-1 in the fourth and could not catch up. Alex Destino, DC Arendas and John Jones each drove in two runs for the Gamecocks.

Reliever Josh Reagan worked three innings for the win.

LSU 5, RICE 2

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Greg Deichmann hit a two-run, go-ahead homer in the seventh inning, Jared Poche retired 16 straight batters in relief, and LSU rallied past Rice 5-2 on Tuesday night to win the Baton Rouge Regional.

Rice starter Willy Amador (2-2) worked six scoreless innings before LSU chased him with three runs in the seventh. Bryce Jordan started the inning with a sacrifice fly to pull the Tigers to 2-1 and Deichmann pushed his RBI total to 23 in his past 19 games.

LSU catcher Michael Papierski hit a solo homer in the eighth and Kramer Robertson added a two-out RBI double.

The Tigers (45-19) advanced to their 12th super regional appearance and will face Coastal Carolina on Saturday.

Rice (38-24) jumped out to a 2-0 lead after two innings. Connor Teykl sliced a one-run double in the first and Hunter Kopycinski found a hole on the left side for an RBI single in the second.