Coastal Shawn-Ta-Cleers (Chanticleers)
- Mark Garland
- Jun 16
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 17
By Mark Garland
Coastal Carolina head coach Kevin Schnall was dialed in to start the post-game press conference Sunday night and wanted to make sure that all of the folks here in Omaha knew how to pronounce the team mascot: Shawn-ta-clears for those at home.
Coastal extended its win streak to 25 on the back of a tremendous effort from Jacob Morrison and a 6-2 win over Oregon State. I ran into Jacob in the elevator on Thursday during Media Day, and he is big, like big big, but a great young man, easy to talk to while holding a fierce competitive nature on the field.
It was a big start for Coastal, as they took advantage of an uncharacteristic Ethan Kleinschmidt. While Ethan competed, you could tell he was struggling to find the zone early and often. A two-out bases-loaded double from Colby Thorndyke gave Coastal a 3-0 lead and really enough for Morrison to feel comfortable. Jacob is a winner, wants the ball in big games, and it shows. He went out with a determination to will his team to victory and turned in an ace of a performance!
The only real tough inning for him was the third, when Easton Talt hit a leadoff home run to right, sparking the Oregon State bench and fans to life. Aiva Arquette crushed a ball to right that was robbed of extra bases at the wall by Blagen Pado. Right after that, Gavin Turley had a ball knocked down by the wind and caught against the wall in left field. Morrison is now 12-0 on the season, logging 7.2 innings for the outing, at one point retiring 16 straight hitters following the Talt homer.
Oregon State continued to put pressure on, however. They had 1st and 3rd with two outs in the 8th, when Pado robbed another opportunity down the right field line from Arquette to end that threat. In the ninth, the Beavers scored on a solo shot from Gavin and put runners on the corners before eventually striking out to end the game.
While Oregon State is no stranger to coming through the Losers' Bracket to win a championship, it sure appears that Coastal and Schnall have some things really working for them. The Chanticleers are now undefeated since April 22. Things we have had since then; 1600 plus players entered the transfer portal, 17 head coaching departures, 300 D1 baseball teams eliminated from contention, and even a new Pope elected!
We will see Oregon State vs Louisville Tuesday in an elimination rematch of Friday’s opening round game, while Coastal awaits that winner on Wednesday. Coach Schnall said of this team, “We stay Head down, Humble, and Hungry.”
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