History. It’s a word entrenched in college baseball, and as LSU and Coastal Carolina gear up for the Finals of the College World Series, their history looms large.
The history between LSU and Coastal begins in 2016, when the Chants went to Baton Rouge and swept the Tigers two games to none in a Super Regional on their way to a National Championship, a history that Coastal looks to embrace and the Tigers look to redeem.
“I would say it’s more inviting than anything,” CCU pitcher Jacob Morrison said. “The 2016 team, there’s a good amount of them that came back and the amount of support and the amount of times that they’ve reached out to us has been unbelievable.”
“Obviously things didn’t go our way that time,” LSU right fielder Jake Brown said. “Looking forward to turning it around and making something good happen for us this time.”
This year’s Coastal Carolina team enters on the hottest streak in baseball, winning 26 games in a row, including their undefeated run so far this postseason.
The Chanticleers have won a nation-leading 56 games behind a dominant pitching staff led by pitching coach Matt Williams, which boasts a 3.20 ERA, good enough for second in the country and a 1.18 WHIP, good enough for third in the nation.
“So his pitching philosophy is that we have really good stuff and that we’re going to attack the plate, in his words,” Morrison said. “And trust ourselves dominating teams that way.”
The man in charge of receiving the electric staff is Caden Bodine, who’s ability to frame pitches and throw out base runners has made him the best catcher in America.
“It also stems from understanding the pitching staff,” Bodine said. “And the pitching style and realizing what each pitch does and how it moves.”
Bodine also anchors the Chants offense, which leads the nation in hit by pitch. Coastal is also 21-3 when scoring in the first inning, something Kevin Schnall’s squad prides themselves on.
“The numbers don’t lie. When you score first, get to seven, win the big inning war,” Bodine said of his squad’s offense approach. “We really take pride in that. We try to execute that every single game.”
They face a Tigers squad looking for their eighth National Title and the second under Jay Johnson, who lost the 2016 National Championship to Coastal Carolina while at Arizona.
“I think what I do remember about all of that is it’s really helped me the next three times that we’ve been here in terms of knowing how to prepare for this,” LSU Head Coach Jay Johnson said of his 2016 loss to Coastal. “And that was kind of my main takeaway from it.”
LSU is coming off a miraculous walk-off win over Arkansas to advance to the CWS Finals, their 6th walk-off win in their CWS history, but now the Tigers refocus on a National title.
“To be one of the last two playing and practicing today at Charles Schwab Field is a great honor and testament to the hard work and execution of our team,” Johnson said.
That hard work, along with a pitching staff leading the country in strikeouts, look to bring home another title to Baton Rouge.
“This is everything that you’ve worked for coming up. In Louisiana your dream is to play baseball for LSU,” Jake Brown. “And what goes with that is being able to represent it at the highest level of college baseball, which this program has been able to do year in and year out.”
LSU and Coastal will not only have to battle each other, but also the heat. Omaha is expected to reach up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit this weekend as both teams look to achieve the ultimate dream of a National Championship.
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