The College World Series finals are set in Omaha, as the LSU Tigers out of the SEC will take on the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers from the Sun Belt to see who is crowned the king of baseball in 2025.
It has been an exciting tournament so far in a playoff format that always delivers in one of America’s most scenic ballparks.
We’ll break down how both teams made it to the final and provide a prediction on what should be a fantastic three-game series.
Coastal Carolina and LSU Set For College World Series Final
How Coastal was Able to Make the Final
Coastal Carolina is the hottest team in college baseball, coming in with a record of 56-11 and winners of a staggering 26 games in a row. This team doesn’t fear anyone and has been nationally ranked in the top 25 for the entire season. The Chanticleers will be playing for their second national championship in school history.
They didn’t have much trouble in their regional, beating East Carolina twice and Fairfield once.
Regional
Defeated Fairfield 10-2
Defeated East Carolina 18-7
Defeated East Carolina 1-0
In their Super Regional, a best-of-3 series, they bested the Auburn Tigers on the road.
Super Regional
Defeated Auburn 7-6
Defeated Auburn 4-1
Then, in Omaha, they looked even more impressive, beating three different teams by an average margin of victory of five runs.
College World Series
Defeated Arizona 7-4
Defeated Oregon State 6-2
Defeated Louisville 11-3
The #13 ranked Chanticleers will be making their first trip back to the College World Series finals since 2016, which resulted in the school’s first national championship.
How LSU Reached the Final
The Tigers struggled in their regional and had to play in an elimination game against Little Rock to advance to the Super Regional.
Regional
Defeated Little Rock 7-0
Defeated Dallas Baptist 6-0
Lost to Little Rock 10-4
Defeated Little Rock 10-6
However, after their scare, they became the third ranked team in the country and made it look easy against West Virginia in just two games.
Super Regional
Defeated West Virginia 16-9
Defeated West Virginia 12-5
In Omaha, LSU was able to win three straight but it didn’t come without chaos, which is what makes this tournament so special. In their third and final game against their SEC rival Arkansas Razorbacks, they were able to win dramatically thanks to a collapse by Arkansas.
Trailing 5-3 going into the bottom of the ninth, the Tigers had runners on first and second base with one out. Then LSU’s batter hit a routine ground ball to the Hogs’ shortstop Wehiwa Aloy but instead of rolling two, he threw to third base to cut down the lead runner. Most fans and analysts were left scratching their heads.
With two outs, the next batter hits a line drive to Arkansas left fielder Charles Davalan, who got his feet tangled after a bad read on the ball the ball hit off his glove and caromed to the left field wall bringing in two runs to tie the game. Then the next batter, Jared Jones, hit a game-winning single that was almost caught by the second baseman and would win it for the Tigers. He also hit a solo home run to tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the 8th inning.
Here are the results for LSU in the College World Series.
College World Series
Defeated Arkansas 4-1
Defeated UCLA 9-5
Defeated Arkansas 6-5
The Finals Preview and Prediction
The Tigers will be relying on their ace pitcher Kade Anderson in Game 1. Anderson was able to limit the tough Razorbacks lineup to just one run in their first game in Omaha.
As for Coastal Carolina, they haven’t named their starting pitcher for their first game. The hottest team in the sport will continue to rely on their high-powered offense to keep their momentum going.
Coastal Carolina wins their second title in program history.
Yes, the Chanticleers are the underdog, but proven time and time again they are not a team to be taken lightly in this tournament. With strong pitching on display and an outstanding lineup, they can overcome LSU’s talent in pitching and hitting.
LSU has had a few close calls and some luck go their way throughout the postseason and you’re not going to win that way against Coastal Carolina. This will catch up to the Tigers and they will fall short of winning their second title in three years.
The best-of-three series begins on Saturday and will be shown on ESPN.
Game 1: 7 p.m. ET, Saturday
Game 2: 2:30 p.m. ET, Sunday
Game 3: 7:30 p.m. ET, Saturday (if necessary)
Main Image: Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images
