“In Omaha, against, as we always say, the best teams. It’s impressive what they’ve done.”
Dan McDonnell has seen long winning streaks during his college baseball career. In fact, the current skipper of the Louisville Cardinals was part of the 1990 Citadel baseball team, which advanced to the CWS after accumulating a 26-game winning streak during the regular season. Ironically, McDonnell was on the other side of history on Wednesday.
In the “Bracket #1” final in Omaha, Coastal Carolina scored six runs in the first inning and never looked back as the Chanticleers blasted Louisville 11-3 to advance to the CWS Championship Series against either LSU or Arkansas starting Saturday. The victory was CCU’s 26th straight and their 56th overall, setting a program record, surpassing the 2010 and 2016 teams that collected 55 wins each. Coastal also joins a select group of teams, including the Gamecocks of 1975 and 1977, that reached the CWS final in each of their first two trips to Omaha.
Game Recap Courtesy of the NCAA: Coastal Carolina was powered by a six-run first inning, driving Louisville starter Colton Hartman out of the game before recording an out. Colby Thorndyke tallied his second bases-clearing double of the MCWS, pushing three Chanticleers across in the first frame. Coastal is 4-for-7 with the bases loaded in the MCWS. All other teams combined are 2-for-18 heading into today.
The Cardinal bats were connecting today, but they could not string enough hits together. Louisville only had one fewer hit than the Chanticleers, but it left nine on base, unable to capitalize enough in the big moments.
Riley Eikhoff earned the win on the mound, going 5.1 innings with all three earned runs coming in the sixth.
With Coastal’s 56th win today, the 2025 team set the record for most single-season wins in program history, surpassing the 2016 championship team. Two more wins will put the Chanticleers back on top of college baseball.