MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Weekend host Coastal Carolina rallied for six runs in the bottom of the eighth to overturn a 5-1 deficit and rally past the UMBC baseball team for a 7-5 win, Sunday night in the Chanticleer Classic finale at TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark.

Retriever sophomore Joe Vanderplas (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax/Tennessee) pitched seven strong innings for UMBC (1-5), exiting before the bottom of the eighth.  The lefty yielded just one earned run on four hits while striking out three and walking one in his second career start for the Black and Gold.

Red-shirt junior Shane Vlasic (Ashburn, Va./Broad Run) was charged with the loss (0-1) after giving up six runs on five hits while working no parts of an inning.

Reliever Andrew Beckwith (1-1) earned the win for Coastal Carolina (6-8) after limiting UMBC to just two hits in 4.1 innings on the mound.  Dalton Moats started the game for the Chanticleers but was knocked out of the contest in the fifth inning as UMBC scored four times to take the lead.  He received a no-decision as Coastal rallied in the eighth.

While Moats held UMBC without a hit in the first two frames, Vanderplas worked around trouble in each of the innings, stranding four runners on base, to keep the game scoreless.  

The Retriever offense supported its starter in the third with junior Vince Corbi (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) lifting a sac fly to center to bring in senior D.J. Smith (Millersville, Md./Old Mill) from third.  Smith had started the rally with a one-out single to left.

Coastal pulled level in the bottom of the frame, however, as Zach Remillard's sac fly brought in Richard Carter from third.

Carter, Connor Owings, and Reid Moman each collected two hits for Coastal.

After leaving two runners on in the fourth, the Retrievers made the most of their opportunity in the fifth.  Freshman Andrew Casali (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) singled to left with one away to start UMBC's attack and Corbi followed with a bunt single to put two on with none out.  Following a fly out to center, junior Jake Barnes (Annandale, Va./Annandale) drew a walk to load the bases and classmate Anthony Gatto (Hauppauge, N.Y./Smithtown West) was hit by a pitch to put UMBC in front once again, 2-1.  Senior captain Brandon Coluccio (Freehold, N.J./Freehold Township/Brookdale CC) then pushed a single to right, bringing in Corbi and Barnes to make it a three-run game, 4-1.  Sophomore Mark Esposito (Bethany, Conn./Amity Regional) capped the inning for the Retrievers by slapping a single down the right field line, allowing Gatto to come in to score.

Vanderplas made the lead stand through the next three innings as he allowed just one more base runner in his outing. 

Coastal's offense woke up in the eighth and scored five runs before junior Bobby Applegate (Somerdale, N.J./Sterling/Gloucester County College) entered and got an out for the Retrievers.  The Chants added one more with the right-hander on the mound, closing the inning with six runs and taking a 7-5 lead to the ninth.

The Retrievers could not rally in the final inning as Beckwith sent UMCB down in order.

UMBC now makes its way north to take on Elon for a single game on Monday in North Carolina.  First pitch between the Retrievers and the Phoenix is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at Latham Park.

DAWG BITES

-          Coastal Carolina now leads the all-time series with UMBC, 19-5.  The two teams played 19 times as Big South rivals between 1993 and 1998.

-          UMBC is now 10-26 all-time in the state of South Carolina.

-          Sophomore Kevin Lachance (Clifton, Va./Centreville) went 0-for-5 to snap his six-game hit streak which dated back to last season.

-          UMBC starters Mac Gill, Riley Stephenson, and Vanderplas gave up three runs in 20.2 innings of work this weekend.