Box Score | Notes

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The 29th ranked Coastal Carolina Chanticleers plated a pair of runs in the second inning and got a strong start from senior Alex Cunningham, posting a 5-4 win over No. 24 UTA to open the three-game series, on Friday night at Clay Gould Ballpark.

In a series ripe with conference-title implications, UTA (29-19, 19-6 Sun Belt Conference) suffered the series-opening setback to the defending national champions, Coastal Carolina (31-18-1, 17-7-1 Sun Belt). After the loss, the Mavs now own a narrow lead in the regular-season race with the Chants and South Alabama (17-7), with the Jaguars rained out on Friday night.

The Chants opened the scoring with two runs in the second and got a three-run homer from Billy Cooke to stretch the game open in the fourth inning. The Mavs got two runs back on the strength of the fourth homer of the year from Quintin Rohrbaugh, and a pair of runs in the seventh inning to get within a run vs. the CCU bullpen.

ON THE MOUND
UTA starter Kadon Simmons (7-3) suffered the loss after allowing the damage in the second and the three-run blast in the fourth. He settled in to throw four consecutive shutout innings to end his outing. He finished seven innings, allowing six hits and five runs, walking three and striking out four.

Trailing 5-4 to open the sixth inning, UTA called on junior lefty Adam Meyer in relief. Meyer allowed a leadoff double but got two outs, keeping the runner at third with two outs, before Austin Gardner came on in relief. Gardner got a deep fly out to escape the jam and worked 1.1 innings.

A preseason All-American and a member of the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Watch List, Cunningham (6-2) pitched the Chants to the series win. Cunningham worked 6.1 innings, allowing seven hits and four runs, walking two and striking out seven. He exited with one out in the seventh inning and the tying run at the plate in a 5-3 game.

Will Latcham took over in relief of Cunningham and got the final eight outs for a 2.2 inning save, his third. Latcham allowed only one hit and struck out three.

LEADING THE MAVS
Rohrbaugh's fourth homer of the year headlined UTA's offense in the game, with the senior extending his streak of reaching base safely to 41 games, the second longest streak in program history, behind a 72-game reached streak from Michael Choice over the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

UTA collected eight hits in the game, with Omar Salinas notching three singles, including an RBI. UTA also got a double from Noah Vaughan and two-hit game from Easton Johnson, who doubled for the fifth time. RJ Williams belted his 10th double of the game, a run-scoring shot in the seventh inning.

HOW THEY SCORED
Coastal Carolina took the lead with two runs in the top of the second inning. Kieton Rivers and Seth Lancaster led off the frame with walks, advancing to scoring position on a sac bunt. Josh Crump then scored the pair with a hard-hit rocket into centerfield on the first pitch.

The Chants stretched their lead with a two-out, three-run homer from Billy Cooke in the top of the fourth inning, his eighth of the year.

UTA got on the board in the sixth inning as Salinas singled with one out and Rohrbaugh belted a no-doubt two-run homer into the trees beyond the leftfield fence.

In the seventh inning, UTA chased Cunningham and cut into the lead. Johnson doubled down the leftfield line with one out and scored on a RBI double from Williams, who turned on a 2-2 offering from Cunningham for his 10th two-bagger of 2017. Salinas then ripped a two-strike single through the right side to score Williams and cut the CCU lead to 5-4.

NEXT
The series will resume on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT at Clay Gould Ballpark. The Mavs will turn to junior righty Trae Patterson (6-3, 2.63 ERA) vs. Coastal Carolina senior right-hander Andrew Beckwith (6-1, 4.76 ERA).