Kade Anderson threw a three-hit shutout and LSU ended Coastal Carolina’s 26-game winning streak with a 1-0 victory in Game 1 of the Men’s College World Series championship series Saturday night in Omaha, Neb.
Anderson (12-1) walked five, struck out 10 and had just one inning in which he didn’t allow a baserunner, but the left-hander continually got crucial outs.
“This is a dream come true,” Anderson said. “Credit goes to my defense. I mixed my pitches, and credit to my coaches. It came down to trust.”
The No. 6 Tigers (52-15) can claim their eighth MCWS title by winning Game 2 on Sunday afternoon. The No. 13 Chanticleers (56-12) lost for the first time in their two MCWS appearances.
“If it was going to be easy, there would be more than one national champion,” said Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Schnall. “We had won 26 games in a row. Let’s just call it what it is: The odds were not in our favor to go 28-0 and win this national championship. We’ve got to respond, rebound, regroup. Answer the bell.”
Derek Curiel led off the bottom of the first reaching base against Cameron Flukey (7-1) with a walk, moved to second on a groundout and scored on a single by Steven Milam. Flukey allowed four hits and two walks, striking out nine, in six innings before being relieved by Dominick Carbone.
Anderson needed 25 pitches to work around two walks and a passed ball and complete a scoreless top of the first. He kept the Chanticleers scoreless despite a two-out walk in the second, the first two batters reaching base in the third, a leadoff double in the fourth and a one-out hit batter in the fifth before having his first one-two-three inning in the sixth.
“I thought we battled,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “Thankfully we had the best pitcher in the world going for us tonight and we played great defense behind him.”
Coastal Carolina had a leadoff single in the seventh and a sacrifice bunt moved the potential tying run to second with one out, but Anderson got consecutive groundouts to preserve the lead.
Anderson allowed a two-out walk in the eighth, but followed with a strikeout, and allowed a two-out walk in the ninth before getting a fly out.
–Field Level Media
