West Virginia Drops Final Game to Coastal Carolina 9-6

Keaton Hopwood improved to 4-0 and pitched Coastal Carolina past the Mountaineers to grab the series win on Sunday 9-6.

The Mountaineers put together a nice rally in the 9th inning but came up just short on another comeback attempt against the Chanticleers, 9-6.

Almost an exact replica of what transpired just a day ago, but the script was flipped this go-around. This time, Coastal Carolina starting a bit slow only to come roaring back with a huge 5th inning rally, and a strong bullpen effort to ice the Mountaineers' efforts of a series win. 

After the Chanticleers rocked the Mountaineers for eight hits in three innings in the second matchup, they couldn't quite find that same spark to open the final game. 

They still managed to get across one run to open the game after the Mountaineers' starting pitcher Adam Tulloch walked the first two batters, and a wild pitch and ground out brought home the Chanticleers' first score. 

After a bit of a rusty start from Tulloch and opening up the 2nd inning on a walk, the junior lefty heated up and fanned three-straight batters. 

West Virginia was subject to a three-up and three-down in the first inning. But McCormick took a pitch to the thigh, and Kluska ripped an infield single to pop things open in the second. 

After having his bat disqualified not once, but twice, Tyler Doanes stepped up to the plate and smacked the first pitch for a double to center field that brought in the Mountaineers' first two runs of the game in the bottom of the 2nd inning.

Tulloch zinged some more pitches by the Chanticleers' lineup in the 3rd inning to collect seven strikeouts in his three innings pitched before giving way to Carlson Reed. Reed opened his performance by slinging seven throws by Coastal Carolina's Riopelle and Weiss for two straight strikeouts and to keep the Chanticleers hitless through four. 

Kluska came through for the Mountaineers again hitting a straight line-drive single into left field. Kevin Brophy was the next man up and didn't make a waste of his opportunity. With a man on first, Brophy worked into a full count before exploding a two-run homer over the right-field fence giving West Virginia a 4-1 lead. 

That's when things began to fall apart for Reed and the Mountaineers. 

After an impressive start from Carlson, he faced the next six batters and found himself reeling. He hit the lead-off, walked the second, and gave up a hit and a sacrifice fly to bring the Chanticleers back with one at 4-3. 

The momentum was gone for the Mountaineers. 

They brought in Zach Ottinger to try and stop the bleeding with the bases loaded, but they just couldn't find a way to do that. Coastal Carolina continued to blow the game wide open. 

Ottinger threw a wild pitch, and then gave up two singles and a triple that resulted in four more runs for the Chanticleers and a six-run 5th inning. 

West Virginia's batting became nonexistent from that point on while the Chanticleers tacked on two more in the 7th, and the lead proved to be too much for the Mountaineers to overcome this time. 

West Virginia tried to mount a couple of rallies in the 8th and 9th innings, but couldn't take advantage of scoring opportunities, and instead left some runners on. They ran two more runs across the plate, one in the 8th and one in the 9th.

Things got interesting in the bottom of the 9th when West Virginia loaded the bases down 9-6, and Kluska walked up to the plate. Kluska already 3 for 5 inside the batters' box got down 0-2 quick and went down swinging to strike away the Mountaineers' hopes of a comeback rally in the 9th. 

West Virginia will be back in action against Marshall on Tuesday. 

You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the page's top righthand corner. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook & Twitter:

Facebook - @WVUonSI

Twitter - @SI_WVU and Matt Thornsbury at @mthornsburyap