Tigers fall in supers

The term Chaticleer comes from the Nun’s Priest Tale, a story within the Canterbury Tales, and is described as a proud, fierce rooster that dominates the barnyard.
There is no better way to describe the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, as their pride and fierceness dominated LSU on their way to a two-game sweep of the Tigers in the super regional and a first time appearance at the College World Series in Omaha.
They definitely controlled the barnyard that is Alex Box Stadium.
LSU head coach Paul Mainieri put the series into perspective after the game two defeat.
“They’re good kids, and they deserved it over us,” Mainieri said. “They played better than we did. They did everything better than we did. They out-coached us, they outplayed us, they just were hungrier than we were this weekend.”
There were those that did not know if Coastal Carolina’s offense, which had belted 91 home runs before this series began, was evidence of its offensive strength or the by-product of a weak schedule. They soon found out, as the Chanticleers hit three more home runs in game one, to extend their national lead in that category.
During the two games, LSU pitching and defense proved to be not as spot on as it had been during the last 21 games and the LSU offense showed it was still anemic with runners in scoring position. Coastal Carolina on the other hand provided the offense when necessary and got just enough pitching to hold off any thoughts of the rally opossum showing up in the late innings.
Saturday’s game was a microcosm of that. Coastal Carolina initiated their drive to the regional championship by scoring early in their 11-8 game one win. The Chanticleers put up a solo run in the second inning, when G.K. Young knocked an Alex Lange pitch over the wall for the first home run of the game for Coastal.
The Tigers took that as a wake-up call and scored three runs in the fourth when Greg Deichmann ignited the Alex Box Stadium crowd with a rocket shot into the right field bleachers that put the Tigers ahead, 3-1.
The two teams traded runs in the fifth to make the score 4-2 LSU. But, it was the Chaticleer offense that dictated the rest of the game, as Coastal Carolina put up crooked numbers in the sixth and seventh innings to take a 9-4 lead after seven innings of play.
Coastal Carolina plated single runs in the last two innings and then proceeded to hold off a late Tiger rally in the closing innings. LSU managed to score one run in the eighth and three runs in the ninth, but could not close the deficit the Chanticleers held.
Even with the game one defeat, there was still optimism from the LSU players, coaches and faithful. That optimism quickly dissipated in the bottom of the ninth in game two, when Coastal Carolina’s Anthony Marks scored on a single off of the bat of Michael Paez.
That run put a dagger in the hearts of the Tigers and sent the rally opossum to the back of every LSU fan’s closet.
The loss in game two was a combination of several factors that allowed all of the stars in the universe to align for Coastal Carolina. First, LSU was a miserable 3-for- 17 with runners in scoring position. Secondly, two errors from an otherwise solid LSU defense lead to Chaticleer runs.
Add to that mental mistakes on the bases and in the field and you have the makings of an upset. After the game, Mainieri took responsibility for the play of his team.
“There’s nothing more frustrating to me than when we play with poor fundamentals,” Mainieri said. “Obviously the coach is responsible for that. We work on things all the time, but we had some miscommunication, we had some poor base running. If we played more fundamentally sound, we’d probably be playing tomorrow. But I’m the one that takes responsibility for that.”
Coastal Carolina head coach Gary Gilmore had another prospective on his team’s huge accomplishment. “I just felt like it was destiny for us,” an elated Gilmore said.
However you spin it, the fact remains; LSU has now lost two of their last four super regional appearances. Now the offseason work begins. The Tigers do have a number of players coming back next season. But, they must first get over the pain of seeing another team dominating their territory.