ROCK HILL, SC – Liberty starter Michael Solbach shut down the Eagles offense for seven innings and Patrick Gaillard had three hits and four RBI to lead the No. 3 seed Flames to an 11-0 shutout over No. 2 seed Winthrop in Game 9 of the 2007 Big South Conference Baseball Championship, May 25 at The Winthrop Ballpark on the campus of Winthrop University. With the victory, the Flames improve to 36-24 and advance to tomorrow’s Championship game against No. 1 seed Coastal Carolina at 1:00pm. Liberty would need to defeat the Chanticleers to force a second game to determine the Big South champion. That game would begin at 8:00pm. Winthrop falls to 33-27 and is eliminated from the tournament.
Solbach permitted just four hits on the night and improved to 7-2 on the year. He walked only one and struck out four. Liberty advances to the Championship game for the second-straight year and clinches its seventh Championship game appearance, tying Winthrop for second-most in Big South history. Saturday’s match-up will be the fourth Championship meeting between Coastal and Liberty, as the teams met in 1998, 2002 and 2003. The Chanticleers hold a 2-1 advantage, winning in 2002 and 2003.
The Flames jumped on the scoreboard first with a run in the second inning. With one out, Cody Brown singled through the right side and advanced to second when Gaillard was hit by a pitch. Nate Thompson followed with a double to score Brown and Liberty went up 1-0. In the third, Liberty extended its advantage to 3-0. Kenneth Negron walked and Phil John singled to lead off the frame. Two batters later, P.K. Keller slammed a double into the right-center field gap, plating both runners.
Winthrop threatened in the fourth and fifth innings as the Eagles advanced a runner to third base in both frames. However, Solbach stranded each runner to keep the Eagles scoreless.
The Flames added to their advantage in the sixth when Keller singled to begin the inning and advanced to third on two wild pitches. Gaillard then cashed him in with a RBI single to center to make it 4-0. Two batters later, David Giammaresi blasted a two-run home run over the right field wall for a 6-0 Liberty lead. It was his third round-tripper of the year.
In the seventh, Liberty broke the game open by capitalizing on two errors for three runs. After Negron walked and John singled to open the inning, Keller knocked in Negron on a grounder and at the same time reached base on a fielding error. A few batters later, Gaillard rapped a two-run single for the 9-0 cushion. In the ninth, Shawn Teufel’s sacrifice fly and Gaillard’s solo home run gave Liberty its final 11-0 margin.
In addition to Gaillard, Phil John went 3-4 with two runs, while Keller had two hits as part of Liberty’s 12-hit attack. Phil Carey had two hits to lead Winthrop, while Billy Froehlich, Eddie Tisdale and Kevin Nolan each had one hit apiece. Eagles’ starter Brett Moore suffered the loss, falling to 1-2 after just two innings of work and allowing three runs. Mike Honce pitched the bulk of Winthrop’s four hurlers, going 4.1 innings and striking out four while allowing six runs (four earned).
Liberty Head Coach Matt Royer
“The win tonight was a total team effort. It started with Michael Solbach on the mound and we also made a lot of good defensive plays. In addition, we swung the bats well completing our performance.”
Winthrop Head Coach Joe Hudak
“We didn’t swing it at all today. We got three runs in the first two innings of the first game and didn’t get a hot inning after that. We need to give credit to Michael Solbach. I was really impressed with him tonight. He’s a great pitcher and we know he has been pitching with pain. I was very proud of him tonight as he threw a great ballgame against us. You need to give credit to him and Liberty as they just beat us. That’s just the way that it was. It was a bad day. We just got beat by two good clubs today and we didn’t deserve to win either game.”
No. 1 seed Coastal Carolina used a seven-run second inning and turned five double plays in recording a decisive 13-4 win over No. 2 seed Winthrop in Game 8 of the 2007 Big South Conference Baseball Championship, May 25 at The Winthrop Ballpark on the campus of Winthrop University. With the victory, the Chanticleers improve to 47-11 and advances to tomorrow’s Championship game.
Shortstop Tyler Bortnick knocked in four runs for Coastal and Tommy Baldridge went 3-4 at the plate to help the Chanticleers reach their 12th Big South Championship game, extending their League record. CCU will play the winner of Winthrop-Liberty tomorrow at 1:00pm for the Big South’s automatic berth to the NCAA Regional. An if necessary game is scheduled for 8:00pm.
Winthrop took advantage of three Coastal Carolina errors in the first two innings in taking an early 3-0 lead. In the top of the first, Chris Carrara singled and later scored when Chanticleers’ starter John Mariotti threw wide of first base trying to throw out Tommy Lentz. In the second, Eddie Tisdale singled, stole second, reached third base on Kevin Nolan’s groundout, and came around on Coastal third baseman’s Derek Martin’s misplay of Mike Honce’s grounder. After Honce was caught stealing, Winthrop catcher John Murrian reached base on an error and eventually scored on Phil Carey’s single to left-center field.
The Chanticleers responded in the bottom of the second when they batted around and exploded for seven runs. Baldridge reached on an infield single and moved to second on Matt Rademacher’s base hit. Derek Martin sacrificed both runners into scoring position, and Dock Doyle brought home CCU’s first run with a single through the left side. Bortnick was hit-by-pitch to load the bases, and Adam Vrable knocked in all three runners with a double down the left field line to give Coastal its first lead at 4-3. David Sappelt forced a walk that chased Winthrop starter Josh McDonald. Owen Reid came on in relief and walked Dom Duggan to load the bases. Chris Raber then lined a two-run double to left to increase Coastal’s lead to 6-2. The bases were full again when Martin made his second plate appearance of the inning, and was hit-by-pitch to force home Duggan with the seventh run. Reid struck out Doyle to end the inning.
Bortnick hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth to increase CCU’s lead to 10-3. With a seven-run lead, Mariotti allowed just three hits and one run in his last four innings before departing in the seventh. In the sixth, Winthrop scored its fourth run of the day when Bryn Henderson scored on Honce’s two-out single. Coastal added another two runs an inning later when Doyle opened with a double and scored on Bortnick’s double. Later in the inning, Sappelt singled home Bortnick to put Coastal up 12-4. In the eighth, Tommy Baldridge hit a solo home run to make it 13-4.
Mariotti gave up seven hits total, four runs (one earned), walked two and struck out two in improving to 8-0. McDonald suffered the loss and dropped to 5-3.
Coastal Carolina Head Coach Gary Gilmore
“We weathered the storm. They came out focused and ready. Two of our three errors were on pretty standard plays. With the character of this team, it sort of ruffled our feathers. We came back in that inning and (Adam) Vrable and (Chris) Raber had two big hits with runners in scoring position. John (Mariotti) settled down and pitched well after that and we added a couple of runs late.”
