Prior to Saturday night, 117 runs had been scored during this year’s College World Series. In game one of the CWS Championship Series, one run was a gracious plenty. LSU turned a first-inning walk and RBI single from shortstop Steven Milam into an insurmountable lead as the Tigers shut out Coastal Carolina 1-0 to grab a one-game-to-none lead in the best-of-three championship series in Omaha.
In sharp contrast to the previous twelve games in Omaha, the story of Saturday night was written by the two pitching staffs. In a whatever-you-can-do-I-can-do-better showdown, LSU starter Kade Anderson and Coastal Carolina’s Cameron Flukey put on a show. Flukey worked six innings, allowing one run on four hits with nine strikeouts. But it was Anderson that stole the show. The sophomore left-hander twirled his second complete game of the season, stymieing the Chanticleers on a steamy night in the Midwest. Anderson threw 130 pitches, 82 of them for strikes, in matching his regular season complete game performance against Oklahoma. Against the Sooners, he struck out a season-high fourteen in a 2-0 triumph. Versus the Chanticleers, Anderson recorded ten strikeouts, as CCU failed to score for just the fourth time this season. The loss also snapped Coastal’s 26-game winning streak.
CCU head coach Kevin Schnall summed the game up perfectly as he was wrapping up his postgame media availability. “When you don’t score a run, it’s very difficult to win.”
Game two is set for Sunday afternoon at 2:30pm ET, as the Chanticleers will face a win-or-go-home scenario with ace Jacob Morrison going to the mound. Morrison, the Sun Belt Conference “Pitcher of the Year,” boasts a 12-0 record with a 2.08 ERA. Meantime, LSU will try and capture its 8th national championship by sending Anthony Eyanson to the bump. Eyanson is 11-2 on the year with a 2.92 ERA.
Game Recap Courtesy of the NCAA: The Tigers take Game 1 in the MCWS finals 1-0 behind a gem from LSU lefty Kade Anderson. He went a full nine innings, throwing 130 pitches with 10 strikeouts. This was only the third complete game in MCWS finals history. Coastal starter Cameron Flukey also delivered on the bump, going six with nine Ks and allowing four hits with one earned. The 6-foot-6 righty took his second loss of the season, falling to 8-2. His only other loss of the year was a 1-0 shutout to Texas State.
The nine hits tonight tie the mark for the lowest combined hits in an MCWS finals game in history. Coastal Carolina was 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position tonight.
In 2016, Arizona’s JC Cloney tossed a complete game against Coastal, taking Game 1 of the MCWS finals. The Chanticleers went on to take the next two games to capture the 2016 title.
This was the first MCWS game since 1972 that neither team recorded a run after the first inning.