POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
OMAHA, Neb. – Coastal Carolina’s 56-win season came to a close in the championship series of the College World Series, with the Chanticleers’ rally falling short in a 5-3 loss to LSU in front of a crowd of 24,734 in a must-win game at Charles Schwab Field.
The Sun Belt regular-season and tournament, Conway Regional and Auburn Super Regional champion Chanticleers—winners of a record 26-straight games entering the championship series—dropped consecutive contests for the first time since March 22 and 23.
“To have the words head coach next to my name associated with this team, these guys, I couldn't be more proud,” said Sun Belt Coach of the Year Kevin Schnall. “What they accomplished this year—56 wins, 26-straight, regular-season conference champions, conference tournament champions, Conway Regional champions and Auburn Super Regional champions. This team got us back to the College World Series. This team got us back to the College World Series finals. Again, proud is an understatement of how I feel about this team.”
Coastal Carolina starter sophomore righty Jacob Morrison struck out a pair in the first, working around a two-out single by LSU sophomore shortstop Steven Milam that dropped just out of range of three Coastal Carolina fielders inside the left field foul line. LSU starter junior righty Anthony Eyanson also struck out two to strand a Chanticleer in the bottom half, when Coastal Carolina senior outfielder Sebastian Alexander reached on an infield single up the middle and stole second to get into scoring position.
A double-play ball helped Morrison face the minimum in the top of the second, before junior designated hitter Dean Mihos sent a two-out, 2-1 curveball just over the wall in the left field corner to put the Chanticleers on the board first, 1-0. The 339-foot solo shot was the lone second-inning blemish for Eyanson, who recorded all three outs via the strikeout.
LSU junior second baseman Daniel Dickinson led off the top of the third with a single to left center, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and came around to score on a clutch two-out double to left off the bat of junior designated hitter Ethan Frey to knot the game at 1-1. Alexander reached base for the second time in the Coastal Carolina half of the inning, with a two-out bloop single to center field, but Eyanson struck out junior second baseman Blake Barthol to strand him.
With no outs and the bases loaded in the top of the fourth—on a walk, a single and a hit by pitch—Tigers junior outfielder Chris Stanfield delivered a two-RBI double to left to give LSU its first lead of the ballgame, 3-1. After back-to-back outs, Tigers leadoff man freshman outfielder Daniel Curiel also plated a pair on a single up the middle to chase Morrison and extend the LSU advantage to 5-1. The Chanticleers turned to sophomore lefty Hayden Johnson out of the bullpen, who conceded a single to Frey but then induced a pop out to right center for the third out of the inning.
After sophomore first baseman Colby Thorndyke drew a two-out walk and Mihos followed with an infield single, Eyanson struck out Coastal Carolina senior shortstop Ty Dooley to neutralize the Chanticleer threat in the bottom of the fourth.
Johnson worked the first 1-2-3 inning for either side in the top of the fifth. The Chanticleers could not capitalize on a leadoff single by senior outfielder Wells Sykes in the bottom half of the frame.
A five-pitch, two-out walk was the lone blemish for Johnson in a sixth inning where he struck out two. Eyanson struck out Thorndyke and Mihos in the bottom half to work around a one-out single through the left side by Chanticleers sophomore outfielder Blagen Pado.
With two outs and runners on the corners in the top of the seventh, Coastal Carolina junior righty Darin Horn struck out LSU senior catcher Luis Hernandez to keep the margin at 5-1. After Dooley reached on a leadoff hit by pitch, senior outfielder Wells Sykes delivered a 384-foot, two-run shot to left to pull the Chanticleers back within two, 5-3. After Eyanson got Bodine to fly out to center, LSU turned to sophomore righty Chase Shores in relief. Shores retired Alexander on a first-pitch-swinging ground out to first and struck out Barthol on three pitches to preserve the two-run advantage.
Horn used two strikeouts looking and a caught stealing by Bodine to negate two Tiger singles in the top of the eighth. Shores won a nine-pitch battle to strike out Mitchell, then sat Pado down on four pitches and forced Thorndyke to ground out to second.
Sykes backed up Coastal Carolina senior righty Ryan Lynch with back-to-back sliding catches in center to bring the Chanticleers back to the plate trailing 5-3 in the ninth.
A Mihos leadoff single through the right side of the infield brought the tying run to the plate with no outs in the bottom of the ninth for Coastal Carolina. Shores struck out Dooley and induced a double-play ball from Sykes to close out the national championship final.
Morrison conceded a season-high five runs over 3.2 innings pitched, taking his first loss of the season to finish 12-1. The Chanticleers bullpen threw 5.1 innings of shutout baseball, scattering four hits to keep Coastal Carolina within striking distance.
With Coastal Carolina’s championship series appearance joining Marshall men’s soccer’s run to the finale of the Men’s College Cup, the Sun Belt is 1-of-5 conferences to have multiple teams appear in an NCAA Division I national championship final this season, alongside the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC.
Despite the loss, Coastal Carolina (56-13) led the country with 56 wins during the 2025 campaign. The Chanticleers were the second Sun Belt team to compete in the College World Series (Louisiana 2000), the second to advance to the national semifinals (Louisiana 2000) and the first to advance to the championship series. The 2025 run was the second all-time trip to the College World Series (2016) and the championship series (2016) for Coastal Carolina.