Coastal Carolina baseball sets unique NCAA record on way to CWS title series

That frequently-used axiom “nothing in life is free” has an exception that the Coastal Carolina baseball team has discovered and embraced.

In their 11-3 College World Series victory Wednesday over Louisville, the Chanticleers collected 10 “frees,” a term head coach Kevin Schnell has coined for hit-by pitches and walks his players get each game.

“Today we were able to earn 10 frees: six walks, four hit-by pitches,” Schnell said. “That’s where it starts. We’ve got to earn frees.”

Coastal got three of those frees in the first inning against the Cardinals. The two hit-by pitches and one walk were a big part of how CCU was able to post six runs in the first inning of that win over the Cardinals.

That victory earned the Chanticleers (56-11) the Bracket 1 berth in the CWS championship series that begins Saturday at 7 p.m. at Charles Schwab Field. Coastal will play LSU (51-15) in the best-of-three series after the Tigers rallied Wednesday for three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 6-5 victory in the Bracket 2 title game.

The Chanticleers are so committed to the concept of frees that they set an NCAA single-season record for most hit-by pitches. After getting plunked four times against Louisville, CCU batters have earned 176 hit-by pitches, topping the previous standard of 175 set by California-Irvine in 2024.

Compare those 176 hit-by frees to the 80 given up by CCU pitchers this season, and that’s a plus-96 number of baserunners the Chants have generated. That’s 96 more opportunities to score a run.

In CCU’s first two Bracket 1 wins over Arizona and Oregon State, the Chants had two hit-by pitches that weren’t allowed by the home plate umpire. Schnall wasn’t happy with those no-calls, especially when compared with the number of times that was called on Coastal during the regular season.

“There’s two games in a row now we get a hit-by-pitch called against us,” Schnall said. “I don’t know how many we’ve had in 60-plus games. Maybe one or two all year. Now two in two games.”

Schnall requested a review of that call against Sebastian Alexander in the first inning of CCU’s win over Oregon State, but the original called was deemed correct. Alexander was rung up for his third strike on the play for the first out against the Chants.

“I don’t want to get into the mechanics of it, but when you take a swing, your lead elbow actually works up, not down. And his lead elbow is working up and the ball actually didn’t even hit the elbow. That’s for another conversation.”

That call seemed to steel the Chants.

With leadoff batter Caden Bodine already on base after reaching on an error, Blake Barthol earned walk and Walker Mitchell was hit by a pitch — two more frees — to load the bases. After Blagen Pado struck out, first baseman Colby Thorndyke stepped up and hit double that cleared the bases to give the Chants a 3-0 lead.

“We had a hit-by pitch that maybe didn’t go our way, which became two outs with the bases loaded,” Thorndyke said. “There’s been a few situations I’ve (come) in in that situation and didn’t get it done.

“I knew if I would just get us one run on the board any way possible with Jacob (Morrison) on the mound, it would really dump some momentum in out dugout.”

It’s that kind of focus and determination that has helped Coastal author its current 26-game winning streak heading into the championship series with LSU. That the winning streak has come at the end of the season on the biggest stages — Sun Belt Conference tournament, NCAA Regional and Super Regional tournaments and the CWS — hasn’t gone unnoticed by opposing coaches.

“I have to congratulate Coastal Carolina,” Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said. “Their 56 wins, it’s impressive. The streak they’re on, it’s just not easy to win that consistently in baseball. The 25 or 26 or whatever they’ve got in a row, man, that’s impressive.

“That says a lot about their kids.”

How to watch Coastal vs LSU in CWS finals

Double-elimination; all times Eastern

• Saturday: CWS Finals Game 1, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
• Sunday: CWS Finals Game 2, 2:30 p.m. (ABC)
• Monday: CWS Finals Game 3 (if necessary), 7:30 pm. (ESPN)