LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Coastal Carolina? The name sounds like a highway. Take the Coastal Carolina to I-26 and head West. It sounds like a vacation package.
But anybody paying attention knows — Coastal Carolina a baseball team. A serious one.
Though it is true — these guys have been arranging the start of summer vacations all over the country. Places like Auburn, Arizona and Oregon State.
They don't care if you can't spell "Chanticleer." They'd be happy to help you work out eliminated, though.
This team has won 25 games in a row. That's not natural. Baseball is a sport designed to break your heart every third day. It's not a win-every-day game. Too many weird things happen. You stub a toe. Get a sunburn. Bad hops. Balks. Shortstop gets mad at his girlfriend.
Things happen. But at Coastal Carolina, they happen to things. They haven't lost a game since April 22, since before the Kentucky Derby.
Their ace pitcher, All-American Brandon Morrison, is 6 feet, 8 inches tall and has a release point somewhere near Canada. He's 12-0. The best thing that can be said for him, as regards the Louisville series, is that he just pitched Monday.
Their catcher, Caden Bodine, is a second-team All-American who bats .325 and frames pitches like he's hanging them in the Louvre.
The point here is that Coastal Carolina is not a team on a streak. It's a team that's really tough. They're not lucky, they're loaded.
Louisville coach Dan McDonnell knows all about Coastal Carolina.
"Got so much respect for Coastal Carolina," he said. "I played against them as a player and I coached against them as coach at the Citadel. I've known them very well for a long time."
Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Schnall sent a very clear message after his team earned its way to Omaha.
"This is no Cinderella," he said. "I want to make sure that's known. This is no Cinderella. Coastal Carolina the past century — only eight teams have made the regionals more than us. During that same period, we have the sixth-best win percentage and the ninth-most wins. This is not a Cinderella story. We're one of the most premier, most successful college baseball programs in the entire country."
He should be happy, then, that nobody's going to mistake his team for Cinderella during its Wednesday CWS matchup.
Because if there's a Cinderella left in college baseball's Final Four, it's Louisville.
Yes, the Cardinals have been to the College World Series six times, reached 10 Super Regionals in the past 15 years, and had more players on MLB Opening Day rosters this season than any other school. But they still lack the one thing Coastal Carolina and UCLA have — a national championship — or even what Arkansas has: a trip to the title series.
If there's a slipper still clacking around Omaha, it's not on the teal feet of Coastal Carolina. It's on Louisville — uninvited to the preseason rankings, counted out after a Game 1 loss, and now somehow two wins from a championship series.
They're still here. And if the glass cleat fits, might as well wear it.
Quick sips
The Las Vegas odds doubt Louisville's chances against Coastal Carolina. Rick Bozich takes a look at the matchup.
An ICE raid at a Louisiana race track is stoking concerns around the sport about crackdowns. Nearly 78% of all backside workers in the U.S. are immigrants. Read more about the raid here.
The Last Drop
"I've been telling this group we've been through the hard, so we're ready for this."
Louisville coach Dan McDonnell, after his team's College World Series win over Oregon State
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