Day 6 of the Men’s College World Series started with arguably the most dangerous team in Omaha punching its ticket to the championship series.
Coastal Carolina, winners of 26 straight games, eliminated Louisville on Wednesday. The Chanticleers used early offensive fireworks and yet another high-stakes pitching clinic to take down the battle-tested Cardinals.
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The Chanticleers will take on LSU in the championship series after the Tigers stunned Arkansas and eliminated the Razorbacks later on Wednesday.
LSU 6, Arkansas 5
In the late game Wednesday, Arkansas came so close to forcing a rematch on Thursday. But after a brutal play in left field and a Tigers walk-off, the Razorbacks are headed home from Nebraska heartbroken.
LSU rallied from a two-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth to absolutely stun Arkansas and secure a trip to the championship series in Omaha. The Tigers now have a chance to win their second national championship in three seasons.
Arkansas, needing a win to stay alive and force a rematch with the Tigers, seemed a step ahead of LSU for most of the night. The Razorbacks got on the board first when Ryder Helfrick hit a deep solo shot to center in the fourth inning, his fifth postseason home run. Landon Beidelscheis threw a season-high nine strikeouts and allowed just two hits in his first five innings on the mound.
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The teams then went back and forth, as LSU jumped ahead on a two-RBI single from Jake Brown in the sixth, then the Razorbacks scored two more in the top of the eighth, and then the Tigers tied it again in the bottom of the frame on a Jared Jones solo home run.
In the ninth, Arkansas put up a pair of runs, going up 5-3 when Justin Thomas hit a two-RBI single.
That seemingly put the Razorbacks in position to end the game and force the rematch.
But with one out and two on, Razorbacks shortstop Wehiwa Aloy gave up a shot at a double play to end it, settling instead for the second out of the inning at third base. And then the Tigers made their last move. Luis Hernandez hit a fly ball to left, and left fielder Charles Davalan misjudged it and ended up letting it bounce off his shoulder. That sent the ball flying into the wall, allowing two runs to score.
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Had Aloy turned the double play or had Davalan caught that fly ball, the game would’ve been over.
Jones followed with a little shot over the middle to bring Hernandez around and seal the Tigers’ wild comeback victory, which left the Razorbacks completely heartbroken on the field.
Davalon, especially, looked devastated.
Coastal Carolina 11, Louisville 3
Coastal Carolina served up its best first inning of the season on the doorstep of the MCWS finals. The Chanticleers scored six runs in the bottom half of the opening frame.
Even though Louisville challenged what at one point was an eight-run deficit, the initial offense from Coastal Carolina was more than enough to get the job done. With that, the Chanticleers picked up their 56th and biggest win of the year, an 11-3 victory that has them on the verge of their second MCWS title.
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Louisville trotted out left-hander Colton Hartman to start. The sophomore hadn’t pitched in more than a month, and it showed. Command issues, which resulted in back-to-back hit batters, loaded the bases for the Chanticleers.
A two-RBI single from third baseman Walker Mitchell flung open the scoring gates, and Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell pulled Hartman for Jake Schweitzer. The right-handed freshman eventually gave the Cardinals much-needed relief — but only after four more Coastal Carolina runs scored.
Chanticleers first baseman Colby Thorndyke was responsible for three of them, with a double to right-center. Shortstop Ty Dooley capped the surge with a single up the middle to bring Thorndyke home.
The climb back into the game was always going to be steep for Louisville, especially against a Coastal Carolina team that entered with a 2.52 ERA during its winning streak and an average of just 3.1 runs per game allowed during the NCAA Tournament.
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Chanticleers redshirt senior Riley Eikhoff, making his second start in six days, carried the torch with five scoreless innings to start the day, routinely getting himself out of trouble.
His outing ended in the top of the sixth, after Coastal Carolina designated hitter Dean Mihos drilled a two-run triple the inning prior to stake his team to an 8-0 lead. The next frame, a double to right-center from Louisville first baseman Tague Davis scored one run for the Cardinals and chased Eikhoff. He was responsible for two more earned runs, which Cardinals DH Garret Pike and second baseman Kamau Neighbors drove in with singles to make it an 8-3 game.
But southpaw Hayden Johnson got the Chanticleers out of a runners-on-the-corners jam, and Louisville never scored again.
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Instead, Coastal Carolina immediately countered with two more runs. The second was the byproduct of the Chanticleers’ 176th hit-by-pitch of the season, the most in single-season NCAA Division I baseball history. Then Thorndyke polished off his banner day with his fifth RBI, this one on a single in the bottom of the eighth.
Coastal Carolina will now face LSU in the best-of-three championship series, which begins Saturday.
Jell-O shot challenge update
Coastal Carolina looks the part of a MCWS champion, but the Chanticleers probably won’t be winning the Rocco’s Jell-O Shot Challenge.
It doesn’t look like any fan base, for that matter, will be catching LSU. The Tigers, who set the competition’s record with 68,888 Jell-O shots in 2023, are obliterating the other seven fan bases this year, with more than 23,000 Jell-O shots consumed as of Wednesday night. With the finals matchup set, no other fan base has downed even 9,000 Jell-O shots.
