But if you try to claim that back in January, or heck, even a week ago, the final pair of teams representing college baseball’s two hotbed regions was going to be Arizona and Coastal Carolina, then. hang on. the rest of us are slowly stepping away because you’re about to be struck by lightning.
Advertisement
That it was. Cloney pitched a shutout in the opener of the CWS finals Monday night, leading Arizona to a 3-0 win over Coastal Carolina before 20,789 at TD Ameritrade Park. But Holmes ended it by getting Michael Landestoy to ground into a double play for the third time in the game.
Led by Bobby Dalbec and Zach Gibbons, Arizona beat Oklahoma State 5-1 on Saturday to grab a shot at its second national championship in five years.
Coastal Carolina University’s first trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska continues to be a memorable one – just not a “Cinderella” one.
The same teams will meet again Tuesday at 7 pm (CT)/8 pm (ET) on ESPN and, should Coastal (53-18) win, the teams will play in a winner-take-all game Wednesday.
The Wildcats (49-22) are in position to wrap up their fifth national title and first since 2012. They have four pitchers with an ERA under 3.00, part of a pitching staff that ranked 3rd in the Pac-12 this season and 26th nationally with a 3.26 ERA.
As Coastal Carolina baseball coach Gary Gilmore raised his arms in the air triumphantly and connected with the Chanticleer fans celebrating above the team’s dugout Saturday night after the latest biggest win in program history, he recognized former pitcher Steve Ells in the crowd and pointed him out. “There are a tremendous amount of similarities between us”.
Coastal will now play Arizona in a best-of-three championship series. After toppling No. 3 seed Miami 5-1 in their opening game in Omaha, they were pushed to the brink by a 1-0 loss to Oklahoma State.
WHO’S PITCHING? Neither coach announced his starting pitcher for Game 1. “I think in order for us to be the team we want to be, and we’ve been all year, we have to hit 1 through 9”.
“He’s been borderline legendary here in the postseason”, Johnson said.
Though their offense had been floundering before this three game winning streak, it was the early offense that sparked the Chanticleers. “Every single day, they find ways to win”.
“Where we started at and where we are now, there’s been a lot of building blocks”, Gilmore said. “There’s a bunch of major league players and a whole bunch of All-Americans and just great hardworking blue-collar baseball players that have gotten us to where we’re at”. That would tie the Wildcats with in-state rival Arizona State.
Chadwick, 3 for 21 in the NCAA tournament entering Saturday’s game, got the Chanticleers rolling in the second inning with the first CWS long ball for the national leaders in home runs.
“I used to rate my play based on the amount of dirt I got on my jersey when I was younger”, Boyd said. You guys know that.
“We pride ourselves, hitting, in being selfless and relentless in everything we do”, said Chadwick, who also singled, doubled and scored twice. “I feel like that’s why we’re here”.
Advertisement
Arrieta, a TCU alum, and La Stella, a Coastal Carolina alum, agreed to a tattoo bet, which simply means the loser has to get the tattoo of the other school’s logo.
