What Does Coastal Carolina Like About LSU? “Not A Whole Lot,” Says Pitcher Jacob Morrison

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

OMAHA, Nebraska – A day after some not so respectful comments about Coastal Carolina’s baseball team by two LSU players, the Chanticleers clucked back on Friday at the College World Series championship series press conference.

“I don’t even know if they’re in North Carolina or South Carolina, honestly.”
-LSU pitcher Kade Anderson, but he knows where Coastal Carolina was in 2016.https://t.co/BAnFmpnunQ

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) June 20, 2025

But it took some coaxing.

Coastal pitcher Jacob Morrison, second baseman Blake Barthol and catcher Caden Bodine were asked an annual question by a regular CWS reporter.

“Your thoughts on LSU – what do you admire just as student-athletes and fans of baseball? What do you like about the Tigers?”

“Not a whole lot,” Morrison said good naturedly as laughter broke out.

No. 13 seed Coastal Carolina (56-11) and No. 6 seed LSU (51-15) open the best-of-three national championship series at 6 p.m. Saturday on ESPN at Charles Schwab Field. Game two will be at 1:30 p.m. Sunday on ABC with a third game – if necessary – at 6:30 p.m. Monday on ESPN.

“I mean, we’re not really worried about the Tigers,” Barthol said. “We’re more of just a self-oriented team. We’re just focused on our team and our team only.”

Carolina has won 26 straight games after winning the Sun Belt Conference with a 26-4 mark. LSU finished tied for third in the Southeastern Conference at 19-11. The Chanticleers swept their home NCAA Regional in Conway, South Carolina, before sweeping the Super Regional, 7-6, 4-1, at Auburn, where LSU was swept in April, 8-4, 4-2 and 3-2. Each are 3-0 here.

But LSU is considered a favorite. The Chanticleers were asked if they consider themselves underdogs. He didn’t really answer.

“We just like to play Coastal Carolina baseball,” Bodine said. “We have extreme confidence in everything that we do on both sides of the ball. We’re looking forward to competing against them, but I think at the end of the day we take care of business on our side and just really respect the opponent. But honestly playing Coastal baseball is the way to win.”

On Thursday, LSU pitcher Kade Anderson was asked at LSU’s team hotel during a makeshift press conference if he had followed Coastal Carolina this season.

“Not really,” he said. “I mean, I don’t even know if they’re in North Carolina or South Carolina, honestly.”

When told South Carolina, he said, “Nice. Perfect.”

And when asked what he thought of Coastal’s 26-0 run, LSU pitcher Jaden Noot said, “It’s a cool number. It’s not really something that matters. But they’re a good team. They’re not going to take that from anybody. They wouldn’t be here if they weren’t. They want to win. We want to win, too.”

From left, Jay Johnson, a Trophy, Jake Brown, Anthony Eyanson. pic.twitter.com/Jiw5mLl24Z

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) June 20, 2025

And that concludes the “bad blood” leading into this one. LSU pitcher Anthony Eyanson and outfielder/designated hitter Jake Brown offered no bulletin board material Friday. But Brown, the sophomore from Sulphur, as usual left them laughing.

Asked about how well Johnson prepares the team, Brown said, “In our meetings before the games, there’s a very clear set of instructions on what every guy needs to do to be able to be his best to help the team win at any given moment. Everything is very straightforward for us.”

And then the fastball.

“We came here to play baseball. We’re not really scholars,” Brown said. “So he does a great job of laying it out for us and making us go out there executing as simple as it can be.”

Brown may have cut himself short. He made the SEC Academic Honor Roll last year as a sports administration major.

And he had another gem when asked about playing under the spotlight at LSU, which clearly has had the most media attention and most attendance in the nation going back to the early 1990s.

“I would say nobody dreams about playing in an empty ballpark,” he said. “When you’re a kid, when you’re taking swings in the backyard, when you’re doing all this stuff, you’re dreaming about playing in the biggest spotlight. That’s what LSU is. If you want the chance to come and play the closest thing to professional baseball at a college level, this is where you come.”