Coastal Carolina, Arizona make finals

Chanticleers oust TCU to continue breakthrough run

OMAHA, Neb. — It’s 1,300 miles from Conway, South Carolina, to Omaha, and it might as well have been a million miles between the two when Gary Gilmore took over the Coastal Carolina baseball program in 1996.

Now, here he and the Chanticleers are, getting ready to play Arizona in a best-of-3 series for the national title starting Monday — in their first trip to the College World Series.

Coastal Carolina earned its spot in the finals with a 7-5 victory over Texas Christian on Saturday.

“It’s kind of like I’m in a dream. I’m scared to pinch myself, to be quite honest,” Gilmore said. “Coming from where I started 21 years ago, and where our university was and where we’re at today and on this stage is one of the most incredible things I could imagine.”

Tyler Chadwick homered and doubled, Alex Cunningham pitched 6 1/3 solid innings, and the surprising Chanticleers (53-17) of the Big South Conference beat the Big 12’s Horned Frogs (49-18) for the second night in a row to win Bracket 2.

“Their resiliency, toughness and talent have shown through in this tournament,” TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “By no means are they a Cinderella. You don’t win 53 games as a Cinderella.

“The teams left this time of year are hot, talented or both. They’re both.”

Chadwick’s blast over the wall in right-center opened the scoring, and the Chanticleers added two runs in the third and four in the fourth.

They had only three baserunners over the last four innings, and TCU pulled within two runs with one out in the ninth. But Michael Landestoy hit into his third double play of the game to end it.

Alex Cunningham (10-4) scattered eight hits and allowed four runs before turning the game over to Bobby Holmes. The Frogs were 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Arizona 5, Oklahoma State 1 — Bobby Dalbec pitched seven innings of four-hit ball, and Zach Gibbons drove in three runs as the Wildcats advanced to the finals.

Arizona (48-22), which forced a second Bracket 1 final by posting a 9-3 win over the Cowboys (43-22) on Friday, returned to the best-of-3 finals in its first CWS appearance since winning the 2012 title.

The Wildcats are 6-0 in NCAA Tournament elimination games.

Dalbec (11-5), a fourth-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox, allowed two baserunners over his last four innings. He struck out six and is leading the NCAA Tournament with 33 in his five appearances.

The Wildcats chased Big 12 pitcher of the year Thomas Hatch (9-3) when their first two batters reached in the third inning.

It was the shortest outing of the season for the Chicago Cubs’ thirdround pick. He was charged with four runs and five hits.

Gibbons was 2-for-4 and drove in runs in the first, second and fourth innings. He went a combined 5-for9 with five RBIs in the Friday and Saturday games. He is 9-for-19 (.473) with seven RBIs in five games in Omaha.