Jake Wright and the Chanticleers will face an elimination game in Atlanta, Saturday, 1 pm   (ALEX SOUZA/COASTAL CAROLINA ATHLETICS)

Story by Brandon Alter      
ATLANTA — The first ever meeting between Coastal Carolina and Auburn was a lopsided 16-7 victory for the Tigers.

The Tigers scored two in the first after Anthony Veneziano was called for his first balk of the year with runners on the corners and two outs. After a wild pitch moved a runner to third, Matt Scheffler got an RBI single to make the score 2-0.
The Chanticleers battled back, cutting the deficit in half in the third with Jake Wright trotted home on a wild pitch. Parker Chavers then tied the game an inning later when he led-off the fourth with a bomb to right center field.  The Chanticleers would get their last hit in the game in the fourth.

The tie was short lived, however, as Veneziano got roughed up after back-to-back 1-2-3 innings. Rankin Woley put the Tigers back on top for good with a RBI single before Steven Williams broke the game open with a three-run home run to make the score 6-2.  
The Chanticleers wouldn’t go down without a fight. Zach Biermann hit a three-run homer of his own that brought the right fielder’s glove over the wall while he was trying to make the catch.

Auburn would get those runs back on a two-RBI single in the bottom half of the inning to take an 11-5 lead. The Tigers would add another five runs in the eighth to put an exclamation point on the afternoon.  Coastal would add two consolation runs in the ninth to make the final score a little less lopsided. The difference in the game was batting with runners on. The Chants were an abysmal 4-21 while Auburn was 13-27.

The Chants now face the loser of Florida A&M – Georgia Tech at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

POSTGAME: