ROCK HILL, S.C. – Coastal Carolina’s Dom Duggan belted a solo home run – his first hit of the tournament – to lead off the seventh inning to give Coastal its first lead of the day, and the No. 1 seed Chanticleers went on to defeat No. 3 Liberty 6-5 to win the 2007 Big South Baseball Championship game May 26 at The Winthrop Ballpark on the campus of Winthrop University. Coastal Carolina won its eighth Big South baseball tournament championship, extending its League-record, and receives the Big South’s automatic berth to the NCAA Regional. Coastal (48-11) becomes the first No. 1 seed to win the Conference tournament since 2002.

The game was close throughout. Liberty jumped on Coastal Carolina starter Andy DeLaGarza in the first inning to take the first lead of the day. With one out, Patrick Gaillard singled up the middle and moved to second on a walk to Garrett Young. Gaillard advanced to third on P.K. Keller’s fly out to right, and came around to give Liberty a 1-0 lead on Cody Brown’s single to right field. Nate Thompson loaded the bases with a single to left, but DeLaGarza got Phil John to fly out to center to end the inning.

Coastal posted a threat in the bottom of the first. After David Sappelt grounded out to start the frame, Dom Duggan reached on error and later moved to third on Tournament MVP Tommy Baldridge’s two-out single to center. Matt Rademacher walked to load the bases, but Liberty starter Tim John retired Derek Martin on a fly out to right.

Liberty (36-25) came right back in the second to move ahead 2-0 on David Giammaresi’s second home run of the tournament to start the inning. But Sappelt got Coastal on the scoreboard with a two-out, run-scoring single in the bottom half that scored Tyler Bortnick from second, cutting the Flames’ advantage to 2-1.

The Chanticleers tied it up in the third when Martin’s sinking line drive to right dropped in for a hit and scored Baldridge from second. Baldridge reached base earlier in the inning on a one-out walk.

The Flames took back the lead in the fifth with two runs to go up 4-2. Young’s double to the left field wall scored Gaillard from first to break the tie, and the throw home allowed Young to reach third. Travis Risser replaced DeLaGarza after Young’s at-bat, and recorded three ground ball outs, including P.K. Keller’s RBI grounder that scored Young.

Coastal came back to tie the game a second time in the bottom of the sixth when Bortnick hit a one-out, two-run home run to left field that brought home Martin, who opened the inning with a single. Adam Vrable singled after Bortnick’s homer, but was erased by an inning-ending double play. In the seventh, after Duggan hit is go-ahead home run that put Coastal up 5-4, the Chanticleers made it 6-4 later in the inning when Dock Doyle singled home Baldridge.

In the top of the eighth, Liberty cut the deficit to one when Brown doubled to start the inning, advanced to third on a fly out and scored on Phil John’s groundout to short. Giammaresi doubled with two outs and Errol Hollinger walked to keep the rally alive, but new Coastal reliever Nick McCully got Kenneth Negron to fly out to left to end the inning. McCully retired the side in the ninth to preserve the victory and Coastal’s first tournament championship since 2004.

Risser earned the win for Coastal to improve to 2-1. He retired the first eight batters he saw before walking Young with two outs in the seventh. He went three innings and allowed just one hit and one walk. McCully earned his fourth save of the year with 1.1 perfect innings.. Tim John (4-3) lasted 6.1 innings for Liberty. He allowed eight hits, five runs (four earned), walked two and struck out three before giving way to Dustin Umberger in the seventh.

Baldridge earned Tournament MVP honors after hitting .538 (7-13) with seven runs scored, a double, home run, .846 slugging percentage and .625 on-base average. Joining Baldridge on the All-Tournament squad were infielders Gaillard, Bortnick, Vrable and Martin. Keller, Young and Baldridge were the All-Tournament outfielders, while Rademacher was selected at catcher. McCully earned a spot via the utility position, Winthrop’s Phil Carey was named at designated hitter, and pitchers Jonathan Settle (Winthrop), Michael Solbach (Liberty), Bobby Gagg (Coastal Carolina) and Dustin Umberger (Liberty) round out the All-Tournament team. Solbach, Gagg and Umberger tied for the second pitcher’s spot.

Coastal Carolina receives the Big South’s automatic berth to the NCAA Championships. The national bracket will be announced Monday, May 28 at 12:30pm on ESPN.  Coastal will have a Selection Show party at Handley's in Carolina Forest on Monday.  The Chanticleers will find out if they will host a regional Sunday, May 27 at approximately 3:15 p.m. on ESPN.

Coastal Carolina Head Coach Gary Gilmore

"All season, everybody has contributed and helped each out. Today, Travis (Risser) goes out and pitches three great innings. Dom was in a hitting slump the past couple of games and he goes out and hits the game-winning home run. What won the game and the tournament was those four guys in the infield. They played great defensively all tournament and all season. I’m really proud of the guys finding ways to win as a group. The 2005 team set a high precedent, but this is the best regular-season team in Coastal Carolina history."

Liberty Head Coach Matt Royer

"Our pitching did a really good job throughout the tournament and today was no different. Also, in the last few games, we have been swinging the bats well. I have no complaints with the way we played throughout the tournament. They are a great team and they capitalized on our mistakes for the victory."