OMAHA, Neb. – He won’t remember the three previous at-bats but won’t forget the final one.
Following strikeouts in his three previous plate appearances, Sebastian Alexander dumped a single into center with two away in the bottom of the eighth to snap a 4-4 deadlock and propel No. 13 Coastal Carolina to a 7-4 victory over Arizona to kick off the 2025 College World Series in front of a crowd of 24, 058 at Charles Schwab Field.
The Wildcats (44-20) will play an elimination game against the loser of Oregon State and Louisville on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. The Chanticleers (54-11), who extended their win streak to 24, will face the winner of Oregon State and Louisville on Sunday at 6 p.m. CT.
“We’ve got a dugout full of a bunch of hungry and humble dogs,” Coastal head coach Kevin Schnall said. “Luckily for us, today, we just executed a couple more pitches than they did.”
After the first two hitters were retired in the bottom of the eighth, Wells Sykes golfed a pitch for a double down the right field line. Caden Bodine was intentionally walked to get to Alexander, who dropped a single into center to give CCU a 5-4 edge.
“He had three strikeouts today,” Schnall said of Alexander, “but he just has that mentality. He’s that kind of kid where he’s just going to rise up to those moments.”
Blake Barthol followed with two-run double to extend the lead to 7-4.
UA kept battling in the ninth. Andrew Cain had a leadoff double and Dominick Carbone took over on the mound for the Chants. Tommy Splaine singled to move Cain to third. Carbone fanned pinch-hitter Dom Rodriguez and enticed Brendan Summerhill to ground into a 4-3 double play to notch his sixth save.
CCU started the scoring in the bottom of the second. Colby Thorndyke had a leadoff single to center and went to second on a base hit to left by Blagen Pado. Ty Dooley popped up a sacrifice bunt attempt. Pitcher Owen Kramkowski made a diving attempt to catch the ball but failed and touched the ball in fair territory to load the bases. With one away, Sykes delivered a single to left that plated Thorndyke and Pado to give the Chants a 2-0 edge.
“He’s got guts,” Schnall said of Sykes. “He’s great under tension and stress. He lives for those moments. He’s had some massive hits this postseason starting the conference tournament. But I’m really proud of him because he’s really worked hard and he really bought into the Coastal way day one.”
Mason White put an 0-2 pitch just over the wall in left, narrowly eluding the glove of Alexander, to make it 2-1. It was the 20th homer of the season for White. Adonys Guzman doubled and came home on a two-bagger by Maddox Mihalakis to level the score at 2-2.
Barthol singled and scored on a base hit by Pado in the fifth to give CCU a 3-2 lead.
Aaron Walton and White were plunked to start the top of the sixth and scored to put UA up 4-3.
Dean Mihos had a leadoff single and scored on a groundout by Caden Bodine in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 4-4.
Barthol went 3 for 5 with two RBI, while Sykes had two hits and knocked in two for the Chants.
“Blake Barthol is one of the most complete players to ever play as Coastal,” Schnall said. “You look at his full game, power, speed, short game, defense, base running, he does it all. This guy was a walk-on that just showed up to Labor Day camp. It’s an unbelievable story. He’s a worker. He’s a grinder, and I’m really happy for him.”
Cameron Flukey allowed two hits and two runs in four innings of relief with one walk and three strikeouts to record the victory and improve to 8-1.
“It’s the same as always,” Flukey said, “going and attacking the plate, trusting what your coach calls, not making the moment too big, too much about yourself, and helping your team win.”
Guzman was 3 for 4 with a run, while Mihalakis drove in a pair for the Cats.
“It was a tough game,” UA head coach Chip Hale said. “Hard fought. Both teams I thought played their tails off. But in the end, it came down to some great two-strike hitting by them.”
Notes
Coastal Carolina is one of three schools unbeaten in the NCAA Tournament (with Arkansas and UCLA). Only three national champions have gone 10-0 in the postseason (UCLA in 2013, Arizona in 2012, South Carolina in 2011).
CCU is 35-2 when scoring first and 38-0 when leading after eight innings.
Arizona is 36-1 when tied or leading after six innings.
Former members of the Randolph-Macon baseball team attended the game. Left to right are Grayson Bush, Matt Myers, Phil Stanton, Myles Webb, Richie Dudley.