LSU vs. Coastal Carolina in the MCWS: 1 reason each team will win
The Southwest Times Record’s Jackson Fuller breaks down one reason LSU will win the Men’s College World Series and one reason Coastal Carolina will win.
LSU baseball left-hander Kade Anderson knows how to paint the corners of the strike zone and cause havoc for hitters, as evidenced by his masterclass of an outing vs. Arkansas to open up the Tigers’ CWS run.
But there’s one thing that the Tigers’ top projected MLB draft pick doesn’t know: where Coastal Carolina University is.
That is at least what Anderson said to the media in Omaha, Nebraska on June 19 ahead of his expected start in Game 1 of the College World Series championship series.
“Not really. I don’t even know if they are in North Carolina or South Carolina, honestly,” Anderson said during a media availability on June 19, according to The Daily Advertiser, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The Chanticleers begin their second-ever CWS championship appearance on June 21 against No. 6 LSU at 7 p.m. ET at Charles Schwab Field Omaha, where Coastal Carolina looks to end the SEC’s streak of five consecutive national championship titles.
Here’s what to know about Coastal Carolina:
Where is Coastal Carolina located?
- Location: Conway, South Carolina
- Student population: 10,306 (fall 2023)
Coastal Carolina University is located in Conway, South Carolina. The Chanticleers’ campus in Conway is located approximately nine miles from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a popular beach destination, according to the university website.
According to U.S. News & World Report, Coastal Carolina University had a total undergraduate enrollment of 10,306 during the fall 2023 semester.
The now-four-year institution has gone through several name changes in its history. Founded in 1954, Coastal Carolina University was originally named Coastal Carolina Junior College. It then became known as USC Coastal Carolina College, when the university was added to the University of South Carolina school system.
It wasn’t until 1975 that then-USC Coastal Carolina College started to offer a four-year degree. This was 18 years before the South Carolina Legislature passed legislation that established Coastal Carolina University as an independent, public institution in South Carolina. This change in the university’s rich history became effective on July 1, 1993.
Coastal Carolina’s first college baseball season was in 1963. The Chanticleers didn’t become a full NCAA member until 1986.
What is Coastal Carolina’s mascot? Explaining what a Chanticleer is
Coastal Carolina University is known as the Chanticleers.
On top of being one of the more distinct mascot names among all Division I programs, a Chanticleer is a “proud and fierce rooster” and “derived from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, specifically The Nun’s Priest Tale.”
Noted by the CCU website, Coastal Carolina’s athletic teams were originally known as the Trojans during the 1960s. The shift to the nickname Chanticleers came during the university’s history as USC Coastal Carolina College, a two-year branch school of the University of South Carolina, when “many people began to push for a nickname that was more closely related to USC’s Gamecock.”
How to pronounce Chanticleers?
To little to no surprise, pronouncing “Chanticleers” can be hard for some.
There’s also a misconception about how to pronounce “Chanticleers,” as famously noted by Coastal Carolina baseball coach Kevin Schnall after Coastal Carolina’s first win at the CWS this year.
Noted by Schnall and Coastal Carolina’s website, the proper pronunciation is SHON-ti-cleer.
What conference is Coastal Carolina baseball in?
Coastal Carolina competes in the Sun Belt Conference, where it has been an affiliated member of the Sun Belt since 2016. It accepted its invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference from the Big South Conference on Sept. 1, 2015.
When the Chanticleers won the 2016 College World Series, it marked the first NCAA championship title for any Big South Conference team. Noted by Coastal Carolina’s CWS semifinal postgame notes, the Chanticleers are just the second Sun Belt program to advance to Omaha to compete in the CWS, with the other being Louisiana in 2000.
Who is Coastal Carolina baseball’s coach?
Coastal Carolina baseball’s coach is Kevin Schnall, who is in his first season at the helm of the Chanticleers program though he has ties with it dating to 1995 when he was a player.
Previously noted by USA TODAY, Schnall had been a longtime assistant coach at Coastal Carolina and was cited by a number of outlets in the past decade as one of the top college baseball assistant coaches in the nation. Following a three-year stint at UCF, he was officially named the successor to Gary Gilmore, his former college coach and boss, after the 2024 season.
Coastal Carolina says Schnall’s 56 wins are the most in Division I history by a rookie head coach. He is one of just three Division I coaches to win at least 50 games in their rookie season, joining CSUN’s Mike Batesole (52 wins in 1996) and Florida State’s Mike Martin (51 wins in 1980).
Click here to read more on Schnall and his career as a Division I coach.
Coastal Carolina baseball 2025 record
- 2025 record: 56-11 overall (26-4 in Sun Belt Conference)
Coastal Carolina enters Game 1 of the CWS championship vs. LSU with a 56-11 overall record, which ranks for the most wins in the country among all Division I programs. The Chanticleers’ 56 wins are also the most wins in a single season ever in program history, with its previous record being 55 when it won the national championship.
To call the Chanticleers’ season “impressive” and “historic” would be an understatement, especially given that the program was ranked in the preseason polls by D1Baseball, Baseball America and USA TODAY. Coastal Carolina received eight votes in the preseason USA TODAY Sports Baseball Coaches Poll and has moved up as high as 11.
Coastal Carolina NCAA baseball, College World Series history
The 2025 NCAA baseball tournament is the fourth consecutive trip to the postseason for the Chanticleers, and the program’s 21st overall appearance.
The sweep over No. 4 Auburn in the Auburn Super Regional punched Coastal Carolina’s second trip ever to the College World Series, and first since 2016. When Coastal Carolina defeated Arizona in the 2016 CWS championship series, the Chanticleers became the first team since Minnesota in 1956 to win the College World Series in their first go-around in Omaha.
Here’s a full list of when Coastal Carolina has appeared in the NCAA baseball tournament:
- 1990s: 1991
- 2000s: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009
- 2010s: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019
- 2020s: 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025
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