(Photo Credit: Nate Bell)
By Chris Marler
The first ticket to Omaha has been punched.
The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers are headed back to the College World Series for the first time since 2016. It’s their second trip to the CWS in program history, and all they did in their only other appearance was win the whole thing.
Coastal swept the No. 4 Seed Auburn Tigers on the road behind dominant pitching, timely hitting, and some clutch moments. Future first round catcher Caden Bodine finished the weekend 4-for-10 with two home runs.
The Chants have played with a chip on their shoulder all year. That chip only grew as they were snubbed of a top eight national seed and instead given the No. 13 seed. That was despite being the only team still standing with 50 wins, and currently being in the middle of a 23-game winning streak that started in mid-April.
Auburn’s season comes to an end two wins short of a return trip to Omaha where they were two seasons ago. Regardless, the turnaround from Butch Thompson’s team from last year to this year was the biggest of any team in the SEC and arguably the entire country after they missed out on even earning an SEC tournament invite a season ago.
𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗧 𝗣𝗨𝗡𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗗!
WELCOME TO OMAHA @CoastalBaseball.#MCWS x #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/914AU6kADD
— College World Series of Omaha (@CWSOmaha) June 7, 2025
Almost Heaven, LSU wins game one against West Virginia
LSU hosted West Virginia in a Super Regional battle featuring two 40-win teams and two of the toughest livers collectively from each fanbase.
The Tigers had been plagued with some slow starts in Hoover and last week’s Regional finals. That was not the case on Saturday.
The only thing hotter than the 105 degree temps in Baton Rouge were the Tigers’ bats in a surprise lineup that Jay Johnson debuted before first pitch.
Josh Pearson and Steven Milam both hit grand slams from the leadoff and cleanup spots respectively. Freshman phenom Derek Curiel hit seventh for the Tigers. He responded with a 3-for-3 day that included 5 RBIs and a three-run home run down the left field line.
FIRE US UP 🔥🔥🔥@DerekCuriel | ESPN pic.twitter.com/wkIRGVuDdr
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) June 7, 2025
Potential number one overall draft pick Kade Anderson wasn’t dominant, nor did he need to be. The Tigers were up 10-1 at the end of the fifth and scored all 16 of their runs in innings four through six. Anderson allowed a season high six earned runs and nine hits in what was likely his final outing at Alex Box Stadium. However, the most important number he put up was seven, the number of innings he ate up which allowed Johnson to save his most valuable arms in the bullpen for the rest of the weekend.
Game two is scheduled for Sunday at 5:00 PM CT with Anthony Eyanson getting the ball for the Tigers.
Super Regional Cage Match in Fayetteville
The most anticipated series of the weekend, at least for SEC fans, was in Fayetteville between Arkansas and Tennessee.
These two programs do not like each other, and that disdain was on full display for all nine innings Saturday. Tennessee came into this weekend having lost 27 of their last 34 games against Arkansas dating back to 2006.
Make it 28.
HOGS WIN! pic.twitter.com/SBkRI496CI
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) June 7, 2025
Arkansas held the Vols to just two hits all game on their way to a 4-3 win in game one. Zach Root was phenomenal, going seven innings and allowing only one hit and two earned runs. He let everyone know it too, especially Tennessee first baseman Andrew Fischer who was 0-for-3 against Root.
The game didn’t feature a ton of offense, but the groundwork and prologue to a potential blowup between these two teams was definitely laid in game one. Each team was issued multiple warnings because of the extracurricular talk between players from each side (primarily Arkansas). Game two is set for Sunday at 2:00 PM CT.
