Coastal Carolina rematch to decide TCU’s future in College World Series

TCU is standing at the doorstep of the College World Series finals, needing just one win over Coastal Carolina to make it into the best of three championship series.

TCU (49-16, 15-9 Big 12) and Coastal Carolina (57-17, 21-3 Big South) will meet for the second time in the tournament Friday at 7 p.m. The game will air on ESPN.

If TCU wins, the Horned Frogs will advance to the championship. If Coastal Carolina wins, the Chanticleers will play the Frogs one more time Saturday to decide which team moves forward.

Pitching for the Frogs will be right-hander Mitchell Traver, who enters the game with a 3.00 ERA. Traver’s last start was June 11 against Texas A&M in the Super Regional Tournament, where he pitched 5.2 innings with 3 earned runs in the 7-1 loss.

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On the offensive side, TCU is leaning on freshman designated hitter Luken Baker, who’s hitting .388 on the season and has homered in each of the Frogs’ CWS games.

Coastal Carolina has not yet announced its starting pitcher. Leading the Chanticleer’s bats is right fielder Connor Owings with a .366 batting average. Third baseman Zach Remillard follows closely behind, hitting .349.

When TCU and Coastal Carolina played on Tuesday, the Frogs beat the Chanticleers 6-1. With the loss, Coastal Carolina fell into the elimination bracket but beat Texas Tech 7-5 on Thursday to remain in the tournament.

The winner of the TCU-Coastal Carolina rematch will play either Arizona or Oklahoma State, who play at 2 p.m. The championship series takes place June 27-29.