Coastal Carolina and LSU played the wildest college baseball tournament game that nobody watched

Coastal Carolina won the opener against LSU in the Baton Rouge super regional, so Sunday night’s Game 2 was one that the Tigers needed to win if they had designs on Omaha and a College World Series title. After a doozy of a game and a dramatic ninth inning, though, LSU is out of this year’s frantic NCAA Baseball Tournament.

Coastal Carolina carried a tenuous 3-2 lead into the ninth inning Sunday, just three outs away from the program’s first-ever College World Series. LSU, playing as the away team, batted first, and Tiger infielder Cole Freeman led off and reached base on a fielding error by Coastal’s second baseman.

Then, after a wild pitch moved Freeman over to second, Jake Fraley laid down a perfect bunt and collided with the Chanticleers’ Cameron Freeman, over from second to cover the bag at first.

That plated Freeman from second. Tie game, 3-3. Chanticleer pitcher Bobby Holmes white-knuckled his way through the rest of the inning, and to the bottom of the ninth they went.

LSU hurler Hunter Newman walked Anthony Marks, Coastal’s leadoff man, to open proceedings in the frame. Marks stole second on the very first pitch to teammate Michael Paez and stood 180 feet from a ticket to Omaha.

Paez’s walk-off chopper to left happened at about 1 a.m. ET. The entire series-deciding ninth inning transpired after 12:30 a.m. ET. In the wee hours of a Monday morning in June, with much of the country dead asleep, Coastal Carolina stunned the juggernaut Tigers and earned their first-ever trip to Omaha.