CCU Bodine hitting

Coastal Carolina junior catcher Caden Bodine connects with a pitch during the Conway Regional on May 30, 2025 at Springs Brooks Stadium in Conway (Photo by Mike Duprez/info@myhorrynews.com)

Coastal Carolina junior Caden Bodine was named one of three finalists for the 2025 Buster Posey Award as the nation鈥檚 best catcher on Friday.

Friday night and early Saturday morning, he showed why he鈥檚 worthy of the award.

Bodine homered twice and knocked in three runs, and his solo homer in the top of the 10th inning lifted CCU to a 7-6 win in the opening game of an NCAA Super Regional at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Alabama.

鈥淚t was clearly obvious if you were watching that game the best player on the field was Caden Bodine. What he did on both side of the ball was absolutely incredible," CCU coach Kevin Schnall said. "If you don鈥檛 walk out of the park tonight saying that鈥檚 the best catcher in the country, I鈥檓 not sure what game you鈥檙e watching.鈥

Sophomore outfielder Blagen Pado also had a pair of homers in the game, as he and Bodine knocked in all seven CCU runs.

Coastal is now a win away from returning to the College World Series for the second time and first since winning the 2016 national championship.

Coastal (52-11) will go for its 23rd consecutive win and a return to the CWS in a 3 p.m. (Eastern) start Saturday that is scheduled to be televised on ESPN2. An Auburn win would force a deciding third game on Sunday, with the time and TV broadcast to be determined.

Friday night鈥檚 game ended at 2:15 a.m. (Eastern), as there was a one-hour, 45-minute weather delay in the middle of the sixth inning with CCU leading 6-3.

鈥淚鈥檓 sure a few of us will have some energy drinks in the morning,鈥 said Bodine, who also threw out a pair of runners at second base, on the ESPN2 broadcast.

CCU beat the Tigers at their own game. National No. 4 seed Auburn (41-19) had 24 more home runs than the 13th-seeded Chants entering the game. CCU was averaging one homer per game through its regional, and Bodine had just three homers on the season while Pado had just six.

The Chants jumped out to a 6-1 lead, but Auburn actually played the small-ball game better than the Chants to tie the game. The Tigers took advantage of uncharacteristic Coastal Carolina mistakes in the field as well as five walks and a pair of wild pitches to score its six runs in front of a stadium-record crowd of听7,891.

鈥淚t shows you why it鈥檚 such an advantage to be a top-eight seed,鈥 Schnall said "What an incredible crowd tonight and I think it played a role in how we played. There were some things that we did uncharacteristically of what this team has been doing. Two errors early in the game, we walked five guys, two wild pitches. But the resiliency of this team is just incredible.鈥

Coastal pitching held the Tigers to one hit in 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Three of those came in the bottom of the ninth and 10th innings. Both innings ended with CCU second baseman Blake Barthol making a diving catch of a soft sinking line drive and flipping the ball to shortstop Ty Dooley to double a runner off second base.

鈥淗e鈥檚 been a dog for us for three years, so anything hit in his direction I have the utmost confidence that he鈥檚 going to make the play,鈥 Bodine said of Barthol on ESPN2.

Surviving a five-run rally

Auburn scored a run in the first off CCU starter Cameron Flukey, and though it was an earned run, it resulted from a misplayed line drive in center field by Wells Sykes. With two outs and no baserunners after Bodine erased a leadoff single by throwing out Chris Rembert trying to steal, Sykes hesitated on a deep liner by Ike Irish that sailed over his head to the wall.

Irish scored on a Cooper McMurray single before Flukey struck out Eric Snow to end the inning on his 30th pitch.

Pado tied the game with a two-out solo shot in the second inning over Plainsman Park鈥檚 37-foot-high 鈥榃ar Eagle Wall鈥 in left field 鈥 Auburn鈥檚 version of the Fenway Park鈥檚 Green Monster 鈥 and Bodine hit a two-out homer to right to give CCU a 2-1 lead in the third.

Flukey escaped damage after some self-induced trouble in the second and third innings with an error and walk in the second and pair of walks in the third, but he got a strikeout and groundout to end the innings.

The misplays and walks forced Flukey to labor through 80 pitches through three innings, though he became more efficient to throw just 16 pitches in the fourth and fifth innings combined despite allowing single runs in both innings before the weather delay ended his outing with CCU leading 6-3.

Flukey allowed three runs on six hits and three walks with four strikeouts and was in line for the win upon his exit.

The Chants broke the game open with four runs in the fourth. Singles by Barthol and Colby Thorndyke set the stage for Pado鈥檚 second blast over War Eagle Wall for a one-out, three-run homer.

Bodine singled home Dooley following a Dooley walk and Sykes hit by pitch to give CCU a 6-1 lead before Sykes was picked off third base to end the half-inning.

Following the delay, Auburn quickly tied the game with a run in the bottom of the sixth and two in the seventh.

CCU carbone throws pitch

Coastal Carolina lefthanded pitcher Dominick Carbone throws a pitch in the final game of the 2025 NCAA Conway Regional on June 1 at Springs Brooks Stadium in Conway,

The Tigers scored in the sixth off lefthanded reliever Dominick Carbone when Bristol Carter singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Carbone throwing error on a short chopper to the third-base side of the mound.

In the seventh, McMurray doubled off Carbone, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout, and Snow followed with a two-out solo homer to left field to tie the game.

In the bottom of the ninth, reliever Matthew Potok walked Bub Terrell and Irish, one of the top hitters in the country, to begin the inning. With cleanup hitter McMurray up next, Auburn coach Butch Thompson chose not to attempt to bunt the runners into scoring position, and Potok struck McMurray out.

Barthol then made a diving catch of a soft dipping liner by Lucas Steele and doubled Terrell off second base to force extra innings.

"We kind of felt we liked where we were in the lineup there and played for it," Thompson said. ". . . We had a chance in the bottom of the ninth there and didn鈥檛 push it across the finish line, if I could pick one of those moments of execution to finish it off against a team that鈥檚 now won 22 games in a row,鈥 Thompson said.

Bodine鈥檚 no-doubt homer to right with one out in the 10th came on a breaking ball, as did his first homer.

鈥淸I was] looking for a pitch middle-in. That鈥檚 where I do the most damage on from that [left] side," the switch-hitting Bodine said of his 10th-inning at bat. "So I think just really locking into that approach. It was a 1-0 count and he threw a ball inside and I got my A-swing on. . . . I feel like sometimes this year I wasn鈥檛 able to do that. So really just going to the box with the mindset of getting your swing off.鈥

Following the homer, the Chants loaded the bases on a Sebastian Alexander single, Barthol infield single and Walker Mitchell hit by pitch 鈥 his 31st on the season, which ranks fourth in Division I. But Thorndyke struck out and Pado grounded out to keep the Tigers within a run.

In the bottom of the 10th against CCU closer Ryan Lynch, who earned his eighth save and has a 0.57 ERA this season, Snow singled and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt before being doubled-up on Barthol鈥檚 diving catch on a Chase Fralick liner.

Though they lost a five-run lead, the Chants improved to 41-0 when leading after the sixth inning this season, and 52-4 when leading at any point in a game.

鈥淲e鈥檙e happy we won and we鈥檙e going to enjoy the heck out of this win,鈥 Schnall said. 鈥淒on鈥檛 ever . . . discredit what we鈥檙e doing. That鈥檚 22 games in a row that we just won.

鈥淚t was a big win to win in front of that crowd here at this park versus that team, really incredible even the fact that we didn鈥檛 play our best.鈥

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