The Recap: LSU Baseball Takes Down Coastal Carolina 1-0 in Game 1 of CWS Final

Jay Johnson and the LSU Tigers captured a 1-0 Game 1 victory over the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers on Saturday at Charles Schwab Field behind a gem from left-hander Kade Anderson.

Anderson’s complete game shutout propelled the Tigers to a 1-0 series lead in the College World Series Finals with LSU now one win away from capturing the program’s second National Championship in three seasons. 

The Tigers got on the board early in the bottom of the first inning with Freshman All-American outfielder Derek Curiel getting on-base with a leadoff walk.

From there, a groundout from designated hitter Ethan Frey advanced Curiel to second base with an RBI single from Steven Milam after to put the Tigers up 1-0 in the first frame. 

Following a one-run first inning from Bayou Bengals, Saturday night in Omaha quickly became a pitchers duel between Kade Anderson and Coastal Carolina’s Cameron Flukey.

Through six innings, Flukey allowed four hits with one earned run to go with nine strikeouts and two walks.

The Chanticleers’ starter handled business in 6.0 innings pitched with Dominick Carbone replacing Flukey in the bottom of the seventh inning.

For the Tigers, it was another masterclass performance from Louisiana native Kade Anderson.

LSU’s ace allowed only three hits throughout the first seven innings of the game with eight strikeouts at Charles Schwab Field.

It was a true pitchers duel in Omaha on Saturday night with the Tigers struggling to get on-base. 

Through the first 21 batters of the College World Series Final, LSU reached base just five times with Milam accounting for three of them along with Curiel and Daniel Dickinson being the others.

On the Chanticleers’ side, Coastal Carolina logged three hits through seven innings with three walks with limited opportunities behind Anderson on the mound.

Anderson went a full nine innings with a line of: 9.0 IP, 3 hits allowed, 0 earned runs, 10 strikeouts, 130 pitches and 82 strikes thrown.