CONWAY, S.C. – The Fairfield University Baseball team began their NCAA Regional stay a little later than expected after waiting out a four-hour rain delay before ultimately falling to the host Coastal Carolina 10-2 in the tournament opener. Fairfield tallied three hits with
Nolan Colby highlighting the knocks with a solo homer and
Tyler Kipp adding a RBI single. Fairfield will now try and keep their season alive in an elimination game against Florida on Saturday at 3pm.
"I thought our starter
Ben Alekson threw a very good game," Head Coach
Bill Currier said. "I think a couple of dropped balls in the outfield made a difference in the game early. I think it would have been a tight game and would have kept Ben's pitch count down and maybe extended him another inning. They threw some power arms and it took us a couple of times through the order to catch up to them."
Ben Alekson got the call in the NCAA Regional and pitched well through his 5.1 frames, striking out six with one walk. A couple of miscues by the Fairfield defense bloated his stat line as he would allow seven runs but just three were earned.
Coastal Carolina started their scoring in the first inning after Alekson retired the first two hitters. Walker Mitchell was hit by a pitch for the first baserunner of the game and he would come all the way around to score on a fielding error.
Another defensive miscue led to a one-out triple which would be followed by a RBI single and double to put the score at 3-0.
The Stags would fight back, scoring a run in each of the fifth and sixth innings.
TJ Schmalzle got the mini-rally started with a double to left on the first pitch of the fifth. Kipp would plate the first Fairfield run with a single to center.
Colby cut the Stags' deficit in half with a solo shot to right, his third home run in his last four games.
Fairfield would get no closer as they surrendered four runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh. All four runs in the sixth were unearned as the inning was capitulated by a fielding error.
With the loss, the Stags will drop to the elimination bracket of the Conway Regional and will take on Florida on Saturday at 3pm.
