The game is set to air on ESPN3.

How they got here

Liberty earned its way to Championship Saturday in dramatic fashion yesterday with a 2-run walk-off home run by Trey Wimmer in the bottom of the ninth inning to eliminate Gardner-Webb 4-3. Earlier in the week, the Flames defeated UNC Asheville 9-2 in their first game and knocked off two seed Campbell 7-0.

The Chanticleers also had a little drama in their run to the final – a three-run ninth inning come-from-behind win over Charleston Southern 9-8 in their first game. The Chants rallied to defeat five seed Radford 5-3 and survived tournament host and seven seed High Point 4-3.

What to expect

On paper we should expect a low scoring close game – one that either team can win. Liberty’s probable starter is John Niggli (9-3, 2.01) while Coastal probably calls on Tyler Herb (8-2, 2.87).

RHP John Niggli picked up the win in Liberty’s first game going seven innings giving up one run on six hits. He struck out four while walking two. He threw 100 pitches.

RHP Tyler Herb went 3 and two-thirds innings and struggled for Coastal in game one. He was responsible for seven runs on nine hits. He walked two and struck out one. He threw 73 pitches.

What we will probably see – Johnny Wholestaff for both teams, if necessary. This game is, after all, for the championship but it’s also for the automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs. Coastal is arguably in good enough shape to make it to a regional even with a loss today. Liberty’s only hope for the postseason is to get the W.

A little bit of history

First and most recent – Coastal swept the Flames in a three-game series at Liberty earlier this year. Niggli and Herb started game two of that series. Herb got the win in that 4-2 game. He went 6 and two-thirds innings and gave up two runs on three hits. He struck out five while walking four. Niggli got the loss going seven and one-third innings giving up all four Coastal runs on nine hits while striking out six and walking two.

Second – the streak. Coastal has won the last 16 games against Liberty. Coastal has won the last five Big South Tournaments.

Notable

Senior RF Daniel Bowman is the all-time hits leader for Coastal (304) and leads the Big South in total bases (519). For the tournament, he is 8-for-11 with 8 runs.

Senior Rich Witten is 5-for-11 with 1 run and 7 RBI.

Alex Buccilli went 4-for-4 and accounted for three of the Chanticleer’s four runs. He laced an RBI single into right field to give Coastal a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Rinse and repeat in the third inning. He then stole second and scored on a Tucker Frawley single to left field to put Coastal up 3-0.

Tyler Herb (8-2) picked up the win for the Chants. He gave up one run on two hits over 5.0 innings pitched. He walked two while striking out four. He did not allow a hit during the first four innings.

The Eagles got on the board in the fifth inning. Chad Smith led it off with a single to third. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a Drew Hardee RBI single to center field. Hardee moved to second and then third on two wild pitches but Herb induced a ground out to first to end the inning and the Winthrop threat.

Freshman LHP Ben Smith came on in relief to start the sixth inning and was lights out. He went the remaining four innings – striking out six while allowing no hits, no runs and no walks.

Senior Rich Witten went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in the seventh inning to finish out the scoring.

Matt Pierpont took the loss for the Eagles giving up four runs on 11 hits while walking four. He had five strikeouts over 6 and two-thirds innings pitched.

Around the Big South Conference

The race for the regular season champion is still not over and the top eight seeds for the BSC Tournament are still unresolved, but here is a brief look at Friday’s action.

Radford at Campbell

In the show down for second place in Buies Creek, Campbell outlasted Radford 6-3 to move into a tie for second place with the Highlanders.

The Fighting Camels put the game out of reach in the fifth inning, scoring five runs on a wild pitch, four consecutive RBI singles and an RBI groundout.

Matt Sergey picked up the win going seven innings while giving up three runs on five hits. He walked three and struck out five.

Michael Felton went 4-for-5 with one RBI and a run scored to lead the offense.

High Point at Liberty

The Flames collected their tenth shutout of the season by knocking off the Panthers 5-0 at Worthington Stadium Friday night. Liberty is now 35-15, 11-8 and High Point drops to 23-26, 8-11.

Liberty is now in a three-way tie for second place with Radford and Campbell.

John Niggli (8-2) picked up the win going seven innings. He allowed six hits while striking out three and walking one.

Ryan Retz took the loss – his first Big South Conference loss on the year – giving up four runs on eight hits over 5 and two-thirds innings pitched.

Charleston Southern at VMI

VMI defeated Charleston Southern 6-5 Friday night at Gray-Minor Stadium. The Keydets move to 15-32, 7-15 while the Buccaneers drop to 18-30, 9-10.

The loss puts CSU in a tie for sixth place with Gardner-Webb.

Gardner-Webb at Presbyterian

The Blue Hose rallied in the ninth inning to defeat the Runnin’ Bulldogs 4-3 in Clinton, South Carolina Friday night.

Presbyterian moves up to 21-28, 8-12 and Gardner-Webb drops to 27-23, 9-10.

UNC Asheville at College of Charleston

The Bulldogs defeated the Cougars 4-2 in a non-conference game Friday night at Patriots Point and improve to 23-24 overall. They are 11-10 in the BSC.

Those 11 wins put Asheville in a four-way tie for second place but the Bulldogs have only three conference games remaining – at home next weekend against Gardner-Webb.

That’s it in a nutshell. Like a friend of mine likes to say: Clear as mud.

This game was a seesaw contest with five lead changes beginning with the first inning and going right up to the aforementioned eighth. However, none was more dramatic than the sixth when Clemson scored five runs on four Coastal errors to take a 7-5 lead.

This was an important W for Coastal Carolina – for several reasons:  First, anytime you go into DKS at Clemson and come out with a victory it is BIG; second, it was a come-from-behind win and those have been rare for the Chants this year; third, it was a mid-week win and those have been almost nonexistent; and fourth, the Chants got past the error bugaboo.

Senior leadership – Daniel Bowman (3-for-4, 2 SB, 4 runs), Rich Witten (2-for-4, 3 RBI, 2 runs) and Tucker Frawley (3-for-5, 3 RBI) were outstanding.

Something to build on – Clemson won last year’s contest by one run in the tenth inning and completely turned its season around. Here is a blog post I made at the Clemson Regional last year regarding the turnaround and how the Tigers needed the regular season win more than the Chanticleers.

Wouldn’t it be special if the Chanticleers were able to do the same?

Here is a video of Coastal Carolina Designated Hitter Alex Buccilli (.313, 3 HR, 20 RBI).

Here’s how the standings looked going into this weekend: Coastal Carolina 7-2 (.778); Liberty 9-3 (.750); Campbell 8-4 (.667); and Radford 6-3 (.667). High Point was next in line at 7-5 (.583).

Coastal Carolina lost to High Point 8-5 in 12 innings. The Chanticleer line score tells the whole story: 5-9-6. Any time you boot the ball more times than you score, it’s hard to win.

Liberty lost to UNC Asheville 7-6 in 13 innings. The Flames rallied for three runs to take the lead in the ninth inning but couldn’t hold it. A wild pitch in the bottom of the 13^th led to a Bulldog run and the win.

Campbell and Radford each split their respective doubleheaders. The Fighting Camels won their first game 6-4 against VMI but lost game two 3-2 against the BSC last place Keydets.

The Highlanders also picked up a win in their first game by defeating Winthrop 7-1 but dropped game two 9-8 in 10 innings.

As a result, here are today’s standings: Coastal Carolina 7-3 (.700); Liberty 9-4 (.692); Campbell 9-5 (.643); Radford 7-4 (.636); and High Point 8-5 (.615).

There’s plenty of baseball left this weekend but the question still remains.

Here’s a picture of Hard Hittin’ Witten just after the walk-off homer Sunday against VMI.

(ESPNU Photo shamelessly lifted off Stitch-Head’s blog)

In addition to the game-winning solo shot Sunday, Witten also had a two-run double as he accounted for all of the Chanticleer runs in the 3-2 win over the visiting Keydets. He batted .474 for the week and drove in six RBI and hit in all five games last week. Coastal went 4-1, including a sweep over VMI.

On Deck: Coastal travels to Blacksburg, Virginia Tuesday to face a hot Virginia Tech.

Freshman LHP Ben Smith picked up the win in relief. He pitched 4 and two-thirds scoreless innings with three hits, two walks and four strikeouts.

On Deck: The Chanticleers host VMI for a three-game series beginning Friday with first pitch set for 6:00 p.m. at Watson Stadium/Vrooman Field. Saturday’s game is set for 3:30 while Sunday’s is at 2:00 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU.

Coastal is coming off a three-game series sweep of Albany last weekend, including a thrilling come-from-behind rally on Sunday where the Chants scored nine unanswered runs to take a 12-8 victory. They have now won nine straight and have an overall record of 16-6 and are 13-3 for the month of March.

Coastal Carolina plays Wednesday at Chapel Hill where they take on the 5^th ranked Tar Heels of UNC.