Chants dominate East Carolina, move to first Super Regional

Coastal Carolina defeated East Carolina Sunday evening in the Conway Regional of the NCAA baseball tournament, after ECU earlier in the day eliminated Alabama from the tourney.

The challenge of beating the Crimson Tide seemed to wear on the Pirates, as the Chants took an early and impressive lead on the way to their first Super Regional appearance. A monster second inning where CCU scored 13 runs helped the Chants dominate the game. The 13 runs scored by Coastal Carolina in the second inning were the second most ever scored in a single frame in Division I postseason history.

The Chanticleers (50-12) earned the school’s first berth to the super regionals and will travel to North Carolina next weekend for the best-of-three series.

The host of the Conway Regional was down 4-2 to begin the 2nd inning, when Tyler Bortnik set the kindling for a 13 run inferno. Rico Noel tied the game on a bases loaded walk issued to Dock Doyle. Tied at four and the bases loaded, Dave Anderson, who already homered in the first inning, stepped in to the batters box. A changeup slipped passed the Pirates Cory Kemp, and Scott Woodward burned down the third baseline to give CCU the lead.

Coastal Carolina was only getting warmed up; Anderson still at the plate hit a majestic 3 run homer over the left center field wall to give them an 8-4 lead. CCU would tack on another run before they would load the bases for senior David Sappelt. With one out on Sappelt blasted a shot to one of the deepest parts of the park to unload the bases with a grand slam capping off the inning. The 13 runs is the second most scored one inning in NCAA tournament history.

CCU would post another run in the third before another five run explosion in the fourth. Bortnik got the scoring going in the fourth with a two run double, only to be followed by a Gilmore three run homer to left.

Up 21-8 in the sixth Tommy Baldridge went yard for his second home run in as many nights. Overall the Chanticleers racked up 24 runs on 21 hits to give them a tournament total of 47 runs scored.  Anderson received the win after pitching 1.2 innings and allowing four runs off four hits. Josh Ruhlman took the loss after giving up eight runs five earned off five hits.
Baldridge and Anderson were honored as the tournaments Co-MVP. Baldridge led all batters with four hits and four runs, while Woodward batted .750 and was 3-for-4 from the plate. Anderson registered a game-best five RBI. Meanwhile, Ryan Wood was 3-for-3 with three runs for the Pirates.

Tournament Insider:

From almost history to destiny, Coastal Carolina scored 21 runs in four innings to advance to the programs first NCAA Super Regional Tournament in a 24-11 victory over East Carolina.

It took CCU 23 runs in five innings, over the span of two games to erase the never’s and wont’s. Coastal had their backs pinned to the wall in the pivotal winners’ bracket game against Alabama Saturday night. Down by four runs in the top of the eighth inning, the Chants pecked away at the lead, and finally took over the game on a Tommy Baldridge 3 run homer that will be a headline in the baseball annuals for years to come. After shocking a much bigger and very physical Crimson Tide team, CCU was in the driver’s seat. A place they know well in the Big South Conference, but never on the national stage.       
In front of a Watson Stadium record attendance of 2,320, once again the smaller squad Coastal Carolina bruised and beat down a bigger foe. Trailing East Carolina 4-2 in the second, the Chanticleers carved up the Pirates for 13 runs in the inning en route to a 24-11 win.
As Gary Gilmore gave his post game interviews you could tell by his face, before he even said it, “We finally got the monkey off our back.” The head coach has bled teal and black since his days in the outfield in Conway. Now he is the architect in the Chanticleers first Super Regional appearance. 
But even before the celebratory mound on mound pile of players, Coastal has been conducting reality checks over the last four days. In their first game against Columbia something must have happened in the fifth inning, because from that point on the Chants started playing out of their minds.
All weekend long their runs came in bunches, which in retrospect makes sense for a group that played like a team. 3 runs here, 6 runs there, translated into 47 runs over three games. At one point this season it took CCU 11 contests to rack up that many runs scored.
Following their win over the Lions, Gilmore said,” We were pressing.” I beg to differ, now they’re impressing, by becoming the only mid-major program in the country to still be alive in the NCAA Tournament. The bracket may have come out favorably for them, but they rewarded for their efforts on the field and not their size of the school or their booster club. 
Despite being a number one seed Coastal Carolina wasn’t the biggest or the most gifted, but they were the most opportunistic. Socastee product Chance Gilmore proved that when he was the trailblazer in their improbable eighth inning comeback. And Tommy Baldridge probably wouldn’t even start for the Crimson Tide, yet they need someone to remove the dagger he put in their back. David Sappelt may have won the Big South Player of the Year last season, yet with his size he would’ve been jettisoned to the bench in the S.E.C. Its scrappy players like this that lines the Chanticleers roster. The never’s and the wont’s, who showed the college baseball nation the only never and wont’s that fits into their vocabulary is to say die.   

2008 NCAA Baseball Conway Regional All-Tournament Team
Catcher: Dock Doyle, Coastal Carolina
Infielder: Ross Wilson, Alabama
Infielder: David Anderson, Coastal Carolina
Infielder: Scott Woodward, Coastal Carolina
Infielder: Brandon Henderson, East Carolina
Outfielder: Jamie Ray, East Carolina
Outfielder: Tommy Baldridge, Coastal Carolina
Outfielder: David Sappelt, Coastal Carolina
Pitcher: Justin Bristow, East Carolina
Pitcher: Nick McCully, Coastal Carolina
Utility/DH: Alex Avila, Alabama
Co-MVP: Tommy Baldridge and David Anderson, Coastal Carolina

http://www.goccusports.com/baseball/?news=4474