Arizona beats Coastal Carolina 3-0, needs one more win for College World Series title

OMAHA, Neb. – Arizona is one win away from its fifth College World Series championship.

The UA defeated Coastal Carolina 3-0 in Game 1 of the best-of-three CWS finals on Monday at TD Ameritrade Park.

Junior left-hander JC Cloney pitched another gem, throwing a four-hit shutout. Cloney is 2-0 and has not allowed a run in 16 innings in the College World Series.

Arizona last won the CWS championship in 2012. That was also the last time the Wildcats made the postseason. They weren’t supposed to make it this far this time, but they’re on the brink of a highly improbable title under first-year coach Jay Johnson.

Game 2 is scheduled for 5 p.m., Tucson Time, on Tuesday.

Despite both teams entering the championship series with depleted pitching staffs, runs were hard to come by. Although Cloney had allowed only one hit through six innings, Arizona clung to a 1-0 lead.

The Wildcats broke through in the top of the seventh. Cesar Salazar led off with a single. He advanced to second on Louis Boyd’s sacrifice bunt.

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Chanticleers coach Gary Gilmore lifted starter Zack Hopeck, inserting another right-hander, Cole Schaefer. Salazar advanced to third on a wild pitch. After Cody Ramer walked, Salazar scored on Zach Gibbons’ sacrifice fly to center to make it 2-0.

Ramer tagged up on the play and nearly got thrown out, a risky play in that it could have wiped out the run. But it worked in Arizona’s favor when Ryan Aguilar stroked a single to left to score Ramer.

Arizona managed to get one in the first inning, thanks to the usual suspects: Ramer, Gibbons and Aguilar.

Ramer led off the game with a ground-rule double down the left-field line. Ramer is 2 for 4 with two walks in his leadoff at-bats at the CWS — and one of the outs came on Oklahoma State center fielder Ryan Sluder’s ridiculous diving catch last Monday.

Ramer advanced to third on Gibbons’ groundout to short. Aguilar provided the game’s first run with a line-drive single to center.

Coastal Carolina — which hadn’t had a runner in scoring position the entire game — had the tying run at the plate with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth. But Connor Owings grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Cloney then struck out G.K. Young looking.