OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Coastal Carolina advanced to the College World Series finals with a 11-3 victory over Louisville on Wednesday, scoring five of its six first-inning runs before making an out and extending its win streak to 26 games.
The Chanticleers (56-11) will play LSU or Arkansas in the best-of-three finals starting Saturday. They are going for their second national championship in two all-time appearances in Omaha. They won their first in 2016.
Louisville (42-24) started left-hander Colton Hartman, primarily a reliever who hadn’t appeared in a game since May 17. He didn’t last long.
Caden Bodine singled leading off and Sebastian Alexander and Blake Barthol were hit by pitches to load the bases. Walker Mitchell punched a ball into right field to bring in two runs, and then Hartman issued a four-pitch walk.
Out went Hartman (2-1) and in came Jake Schweitzer. Colby Thorndyke greeted him with his second bases-clearing double in two games to make it 5-0. Thorndyke came home on Ty Dooley’s one-out single and finished 3 for 4 with five RBIs.
The Chanticleers padded their lead with Pete Mihos’ two-run triple in the fifth and two more runs in the sixth. Coastal Carolina is 43-0 when leading after six innings.
The Chanticleers made an impressive run through their bracket, beating Arizona 7-4 and Oregon State 6-2 before eliminating the Cardinals. They led or were tied all the way through except for a half-inning against Arizona.
Riley Eikhoff (7-2), making his second start in the CWS, held the Cardinals scoreless until Tague Davis drove an RBI double into the right-center gap in the sixth. Matthew Potok, Hayden Johnson and Dominick Carbone combined for 3 2/3 shutout innings of relief.
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