First pitch is set for 6:00 PM at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3.

This is the second matchup this season between the Chants (24-12, 10-2) and the Heels (34-2, 15-2). They played an add-on game earlier this year and the Heels won 7-1.

This is the most important game of the year for Coastal. Not because it’s a game against the number one team in the nation. Not because it’s a chance to avenge an earlier loss. Those are good reasons to look forward to the game but the real reason this game is important is because of timing.

Both teams are playing well right now and enter this game riding nine game win streaks. The Chanticleers have won 17 of their last 19 games. Team batting average is up. They lead the Big South. They seem to have righted the ship.

Critics, however, will attribute this recent success to a lower quality opponent. Well, it doesn’t get any higher than today.

The Tar Heels, on the other hand, just continue to roll – They have only two losses for the entire year. It’s a midweek game for them and that’s exactly the way they will treat it. If they win, they were expected to win. If not, chalk it up to the old “non-weekend non-starter” nonsense. Midweek or not, if this game is close at the end – and it should be – watch Coach Fox. You better believe he’ll be coaching it like a trip to Omaha is on the line.

The Chants will win tonight’s game if they continue to play solid fundamental baseball. Expect a great start from So. LHP Austin Kerr followed by Coastal’s outstanding bullpen. Mix in some error free ball with clutch hitting and you’ll have a definite W for the Chanticleers.

Both teams come into the series with momentum from big midweek wins. Coastal defeated College of Charleston 2-1 in a fourteen inning marathon Wednesday in Myrtle Beach. The Chants have now won six in a row and 10 out of their last 11 games.

Winthrop is riding Uncle Mo after an impressive 13-4 victory over Furman on Wednesday. Chanticleer fans may recall that Furman swept Coastal in a two game midweek series earlier this season.

Audio for all three games will be broadcast live by the Chanticleer Sports Network. Saturday’s games will be available via webcast on the Big South Network.

Probable Starting Pitchers

Fri.: VMI LHP Connor Bach (1-2, 2.78) vs. Coastal LHP Ben Smith (2-1, 1.42)
Sat, Game 1: VMI LHP Campbell Henkel (1-2, 4.76) vs. Coastal RHP Tyler Poole (3-1, 2.96)
Sat., Game 2: VMI RHP Jeremy Brown (3-0, 2.96) vs. Coastal RHP Tyler Herb (3-1, 5.52)

Of Note

VMI is on a hot streak. The Keydets have won six of their last seven games, including Tuesday’s shutout of a very good Virginia Tech.

Coastal, on the other hand, is having an up-and-down season so far. After dropping a heartbreaking BSC opener last Friday, the Chants are on a two-game winning streak.

Key to the Series

Fundamental baseball – it’s that simple. The team that executes will when the series.  VMI has a slight edge in team hitting at .305 compared to Coastal’s .267 team average. Both squads are fielding at .954 and have more than their fair share of errors. The Keydets have booted the ball 46 times while the Chants have kicked it around 43 times.

The Chanticleers will win the series if they can muster up some run support.

So far this year timely hitting has been elusive for Coastal but it’s only a matter of time – hitting begets hitting. They’ll come around.

Prediction: CCU sweep.

The Chants are 10-10 on the season and are looking to go above .500 before beginning conference play on Friday. The Deacs are 12-10 overall and 1-5 in ACC play.

I don’t know what is more surprising – the fact that the Chanticleers are playing .500 ball or that Friday night ace Tyler Herb is the projected starter for tonight’s match-up.

Herb has made five starts already and has a 5.73 ERA through 22.0 innings with 14 strikeouts.

The Chants won 10-2 in Conway in 2011 and have a 15-13 overall record against the Deacs.

Unfortunately, most of those lists won’t last long.

I have a better idea. My resolution is simply to use good judgment. Hopefully, it’s not something that we wait until after Auld Lang Syne to get started. It should be something we’ve worked on all year. But we can reflect on it today. We can simplify our lives today. Just use good judgment.

If I need to lose weight, all I need to do is use good judgment with my diet and maybe exercise. If I want to work harder (or smarter), then that’s what I will do. No task is too complicated if we plan it out. If my schedule is full, then I need to simplify it. Maybe I shouldn’t take on that new potential client. If my case work is “caught up,” maybe I should use that extra time to hone my trial skills – or spend it with my family. The list goes on and on and yet it is as simple as anything has ever been.

Today I will use good judgment. Tomorrow will take care of itself.

Yesterday’s breaking-up-the-monotony moment occurred when a defendant’s legal adviser addressed the court.  It went something like this:

Legal Adviser (LA): I’m here for the defendant. I need you to help me with some subpoenas to get the evidence.

Court: Are you a lawyer?

LA: No, I’m [the defendant’s] Legal Adviser.

Court: I can’t give you legal advice.

LA: I’m not asking for legal advice.

Court: You just asked me to help you with some subpoenas.

LA: If you’re not going to listen to me, I’ll file a motion.

Court: You are excused.

The Big South Tournament

Coastal Carolina won the Big South Tournament for an unprecedented sixth consecutive season. The Chanticleers also won the regular season championship for the sixth time in a row. They swept through the tournament with a 4-0 record and won the “winner-take-all” Championship Game against Liberty 4-3.

Chanticleer MVPs

Ryan Connolly (2-0) and Aaron Burke (2-0) were selected as Co-MVPs of the tournament. Connolly pitched 11 and one-third innings giving up nine hits, one walk while striking out nine. He did not allow a run. Burke went 9 and two-thirds innings giving up seven hits while allowing one run and no walks. He struck out five.

Photo by Paula Gardner

Let’s just take all that in for a minute. Connolly and Burke are relief pitchers and they accounted for all four of Coastal’s wins. Together they pitched 21 innings and only gave up one run.  That’s pretty solid.

Chants on the All-Tournament Team

Daniel Bowman, Rich Witten and Alex Buccilli were named to the All-Tournament Team: DBow hit .692 with seven runs scored; Hard hittin Witten hit .385 and knocked in eight runs; and the most famous batter in all of college baseball, Alex Buccilli, was the third Chanticleer on the team.

Photo by Paula Gardner

The 2012 Big South All-Tournament Team

P: Aaron Burke, Coastal Carolina (co-MVP); P: Ryan Connolly, Coastal Carolina (co-MVP)
P: Patrick Eckelbarger, Liberty
P: Beau Hilton, Gardner-Webb
DH: Alex Buccilli, Coastal Carolina
OF: Daniel Bowman, Coastal Carolina
OF: Devin Bujnovsky, High Point
OF: Benji Jackson, Gardner-Webb
INF: Rich Witten, Coastal Carolina
INF: Alex Close, Liberty
INF: Ryan Retz, High Point
INF: Dusty Quattlebaum, Gardner-Webb
C: Trey Wimmer, Liberty
UTL: Spencer Angelis, High Point

The BSCT was held at High Point University and the Panthers did an excellent job hosting the event. A tip of the hat to High Point Sports for their hospitality. Here is a picture I took from up in the press box before the championship game.

The Columbia Regional

For the second year in a row, the Chanticleers were paired up against Clemson in regional play. This time it was in Game 1 at Carolina Stadium. Coastal played “un-Chanticleer” baseball in that game and lost 11-3. They bounced back to beat Manhattan 11-1 in the second game. Unfortunately, the Chants dropped another one to the Tigers on Sunday 5-3.

Congratulations to Rich Witten and Jacob May for their selection to the Columbia Regional All Tournament Team.

Our Seniors and the Draft

Coastal said farewell to three seniors: Tucker Frawley, Rich Witten and Daniel Bowman. Their leadership was invaluable to the Chanticleers and it directly contributed to the team’s accomplishments this year.

It appears that Coastal will also say goodbye and good luck to junior Josh Conway. The RHP was selected in the fourth round of the draft.

Next year

Rebuilding or reloading? That’s always the question for a college baseball team when looking ahead at the next season. Baseball is a cyclical sport. Building a team is difficult. Not only are the coaches competing with other schools (ahem, the aforementioned Tigers and the back-to-back National Champion Gamecocks), there’s the draft – an organization that can systematically wrench your heart by plucking that high school star just before he gets on campus or snatch your rising senior right off your roster just when he was getting really good.

Coastal Carolina may have lost some talent this year but there’s plenty more already on board and I think it’s a safe bet that Coach Gilmore and his staff have lined up what they need to compete in 2013.

Speaking of 2013, the Chants will play their home games at Pelican Field in Myrtle Beach next year. Watson Stadium is getting a complete renovation and will be a state of the art facility when it opens in 2014. That should help with recruiting.

The Wrap

Well that should do it for posts on college baseball for this year. I’ll get back to writing about law after the College World Series is over. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read Law and Baseball and for the comments and emails.

I would also like to thank Mark Etheridge for letting me write at SEBaseball.com this year covering not only Coastal baseball but the entire Big South Conference.

I would like to also remind everyone that comments on this blog are always welcome or you can contact me by email at lawandbaseball@gmail.com with your college baseball question.

Freedom ain’t cheap. For the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to pay for our freedom, I salute you.

The words:

Day is done,
gone the sun,
From the hills,
from the lake,
From the skies.
All is well,
safely rest,
God is nigh.

Go to sleep,
peaceful sleep,
May the soldier
or sailor,
God keep.
On the land
or the deep,
Safe in sleep.

Love, good night,
Must thou go,
When the day,
And the night
Need thee so?
All is well.
Speedeth all
To their rest.

Fades the light;
And afar
Goeth day,
And the stars
Shineth bright,
Fare thee well;
Day has gone,
Night is on.

Thanks and praise,
For our days,
‘Neath the sun,
Neath the stars,
‘Neath the sky,
As we go,
This we know,
God is nigh.

The music.

The source: U.S. Memorial Day History.

The 16 regional sites, with host institutions and records (through May 26) are as follows:

Baton Rouge, La. — LSU (43-16)
Chapel Hill, N.C. — North Carolina (44-14)
Charlottesville, Va. — Virginia (38-17)
College Station, Texas — Texas A&M (42-16)
Columbia, S.C. — South Carolina (40-17)
Coral Gables, Fla. — *Miami (Fla.) (36-20)
Eugene, Ore. — *Oregon (42-16)
Gainesville, Fla. – Florida (42-18)
Gary, Ind. — Purdue (44-12)
Houston, Texas — Rice (40-17)
Los Angeles, Calif. — *UCLA (41-14)
Palo Alto, Calif. — *Stanford (37-16)
Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina State (39-17)
Tallahassee, Fla. — Florida State (43-15)
Tucson, Ariz. — *Arizona (37-17)
Waco, Texas — Baylor (44-14)
*Teams that are playing Sunday.

By virtue of being awarded a regional, all 16 host institutions have also been selected to the 64-team championship field.

Each regional field features four teams, playing in a double-elimination format. All 16 regionals are scheduled to be conducted from June 1 to June 4.

Three institutions are hosting for the 20th time or more as Florida State leads the list of schools with 29, Miami (Fla.) with 24, and LSU is hosting a regional for a 20th time. Stanford is hosting for the 15th time and South Carolina is hosting for the 14th time. Florida (11th) and Rice (10th) are the only other institutions to host 10 or more times since the NCAA went to the regional format in 1975.

Texas A&M is hosting for the ninth time, while North Carolina is hosting a regional for the seventh time and Virginia for the sixth time. Arizona is hosting for the fifth time, Baylor and UCLA are hosting for a fourth time, and North Carolina State for a third time. Rounding out the list and hosting for the first time are Purdue and Oregon.

Due to stadium construction issues, the regional hosted by Purdue will be played at U.S. Steel Yard in Gary, Ind.

Eight institutions (Florida, Florida State, North Carolina, Rice, Texas A&M, South Carolina, UCLA and Virginia) also hosted in 2011.