After a week of the wildest, wackiest week of baseball you could possibly ask for at the men's College World Series, it all comes down to this. Two teams, three games, one national title on the line.
In one corner: LSU, the big, bad boys from Baton Rouge who are seeking their second title in three years and their eighth since 1991. In the other: Coastal Carolina, the lone undefeated team in Omaha and the hottest team in the country amid a 26-game winning streak.
The Chanticleers may come from the Sun Belt, and they may not have as crowded a trophy case as their opponents this weekend. But this final will be far more than the David vs. Goliath matchup it might appear to be at first glance. Both teams have gotten here by playing complete ball, and both boast some of the very best players in college baseball.
So, which one has the edge, and what will determine who walks away with the title this weekend? Let's break down the keys to what should be a thrilling best-of-three series, with Game 1 set to get underway at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday night on ESPN.
How will Coastal Carolina handle adversity?
It's not that the Chants haven't been tested during this historic 26-game run. They outlasted a very good Southern Miss team in a thrilling Sun Belt Tournament final, hung on for a 1-0 win over East Carolina to clinch the Conway Regional and then went into the jungle and shocked Super Regional host Auburn two straight times. Make no mistake: This team is battle-tested.
But they've also rolled through their first three games so far in Omaha, dispatching Arizona, No. 8 Oregon State and Louisville by a combined score of 24-9. And it's not hyperbole to suggest that they're about to face their toughest test of the season, against an LSU team with championship pedigree and elite talent all over the place.
Which begs the question: How will Coastal handle getting punched in the mouth? It would shock just about everybody if they were able to roll to two more wins as easily as they've earned their first three at the CWS. Will they be able to bounce back, or will it shake their well-earned confidence? This series figures to be defined by tight moments; whether the Chants are ready to meet them will go a long way to determining whether they're champions by the end of the weekend.
Will the Chants do all the little things well?
These are two elite teams, but they do it in different ways. LSU wants to simply overwhelm you, both on the mound and at the plate.
“Regarding LSU, it's pretty simple,” Coastal manager Kevin Schnall said. “They've got power on both sides of the ball. They have over 100 home runs. They've got over 700 strikeouts. That combination is very dangerous.”
Very dangerous is right. Six Tigers regulars are hitting over .300 on the season, and four of them are in double-digits in homers — led by slugging first baseman Jared Jones, whose already added two more to his ledger in Omaha. LSU has hit 103 dingers so far this year; Coastal has just 66. The same is true on the mound, where the Tigers have two of the nation's top three strikeout artists in Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson, who figure to start the first two games of this series.
The Chanticleers' formula, on the other hand, is beat you on the margins. Put the ball in play relentlessly while always looking to take the extra base, pound the strike zone and never give up first base and, above all, play tremendous defense. Coastal is going to need to play a very clean game to take home the title; if they can't, then LSU's raw talent might be too much to overcome.
Can Jacob Morrison match LSU's aces?
Speaking of Anderson and Eyanson: We don't yet know just who will take the ball for the Tigers in Game 1, but it seems pretty certain that these two will start in some order on Saturday and Sunday, with star freshman Casan Evans looming as a weapon out of the bullpen if needed. Coastal's offense has been a machine so far in Omaha (and all season long, really) but it seems hard to believe they'll keep on averaging eight runs per game against this LSU staff.
That puts some serious pressure on the Chanticleers' own arms to keep pace. And the best counter Coastal has is Morrison, who enters the final with a 12-0 record and a 2.08 ERA for the season. He's walked just 22 batters in 104 innings of work, and opponents are hitting just .194 against him — those are downright silly numbers. Morrison is lined up to start Game 2 of this series, with Cameron Flukey getting the ball on Saturday night. It's hard to imagine Coastal winning two of three if they don't get a vintage performance from Morrison, especially considering the firepower LSU has on the other side.
Which team has the deeper bullpen?
These games figure to get to the late innings close, and that means the winner could be decided in the bullpen. For Coastal, that conversation starts with Ryan Lynch, who's given up just two earned runs all year (0.58 ERA) but has thrown just 0.1 innings so far in Omaha because the Chanticleers simply haven't needed him. And he's just the tip of the iceberg: Dominick Carbone has retired 112 of the 167 batters he's faced this year.
On the other side, it should come as no surprise that the Tigers counter with some downright electric stuff. Evans looks to be the next great LSU starter, but right now he's cutting loose as the team's top reliever to phenomenal results. Oh, and then there's Chase Shores, who regularly pushes triple-digits with his heater. Does Coastal have the depth to match the sheer quantity of high-level arms that LSU is going to throw at them in this series?