2025 MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 22, 2025

Kevin Schnall

Caden Bodine

Wells Sykes

Dean Mihos

Coastal Carolina Chanticleers

Postgame Press Conference

LSU - 5, Coastal Carolina - 3

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Coastal Carolina head coach Kevin Schnall and student-athletes Caden Bodine, Dean Mihos and Wells Sykes.

KEVIN SCHNALL: Congratulations to LSU, Jay Johnson, his coaching staff, their players for winning their eighth national championship. They deserved it. They earned it. They played just a little bit better than we did.

I'm sorry -- I'm not sorry for what happened -- I'm sorry for this being over. I'm sorry for how it ended.

To have the words "head coach" next to my name associated with this team, these guys, I couldn't be more proud. What they accomplished this year -- 56 wins; 26 straight; regular-season, conference champions; conference tournament champions; Conway Regional champions; Auburn super regional champions. This team got us back to the College World Series. This team got us back to the College World Series finals. Again, proud is an understatement of how I feel about this team.

The impact that that's guys and this team will have on me the rest of my life will be far greater than the impact that I've had on them. And I can't thank you guys enough. I can't thank this team enough.

Q. Dean, top of the second, you go yard. A big response after the first inning. Can you talk about what was shared between the team after the first inning?

DEAN MIHOS: We were just trying to get ourselves down from 100 there. Things escalated a little quicker than we liked. We were just trying to get back to a level where we could breathe, get our feet back under us and try continue executing.

Q. Wells, you guys, even despite the loss, I saw pretty much the entire team went onto the field, grabbed some sand as a remembrance, and just clearly you guys enjoyed and relished the experience that you had despite the loss.

WELLS SYKES: For me, this was it for me. So, yeah -- my apologies. These are my guys, man. And I would just like to thank Coach Schnall and the rest of the coaches for giving me the opportunity to come here.

And, yeah, this is something that not just me but this entire team will remember for the rest of their lives. These are my brothers, and I love everybody in that locker room.

Q. Caden, after I think it was the second inning, after the second inning, ESPN cameras caught Jacob talking to umpire Campos. Was he bothered by the third base coach of LSU today?

CADEN BODINE: What was it?

Q. He was talking to the home plate umpire walking back to the dugout. I think it was after the second inning, motioning towards over by third base. Do you know possibly what that was about?

CADEN BODINE: I don't think it was anything with the third base coach. I think it was with the pitch comm. I don't think it was anything with the third base coach.

Q. Obviously you guys ran into some really good pitching out here. What did you see out of Eyanson? And whoever wants to chime in, what makes him so tough?

DEAN MIHOS: I think he was just able to mix well. I mean, I don't think it was anything too overpowering for us as hitters. He had a good day. Hats off to them. I think that's really it.

Q. The 28th pitch of the first inning, were you warned prior to it? And I know the home plate umpire turned away. Were any words shared from him to you afterwards?

KEVIN SCHNALL: There's 25,000 people there, and I vaguely hear a warning issued. As the head coach, I was an assistant for 24 years, and as an assistant, you're almost treated like a second grade second-level citizen and you can't say a word. Now, as a head coach I think it is your right to get an explanation of why we got warned.

I'm 48 years old. I shouldn't get shooed by another grown man. When I walk out to find out what the warning is, a grown man shooed me. At that point I can now hear him say, "It was a warning issued for arguing balls and strikes." At that point I said, "Because you missed three." At that point, ejected.

If that warrants an ejection, I'm the first one to stand here like a man and apologize. Two words that define our program are "own it." And what does that mean? It means you have to own everything that you do without blame, without defending yourself, without excuses.

If you guys watch the video, there was a guy that came in extremely aggressively, tripped over Campos' foot, embarrassed in front of 25,000, immediately goes two games suspension and said, bumping the umpire. Immediately does that. There was no bump. He was embarrassed. I shouldn't be held accountable for a grown man's athleticism.

They'll retract it, though, because now it's excessive and the reason it was excessive because I was trying to say, I didn't bump him.

It is what it is. But if that warranted an ejection, man, there would be a lot of ejections.

As an umpire, I feel like it's your job to manage the game, the national championship game, with some poise, some calmness and a little bit of tolerance.

Q. Obviously it was a supercharged first inning, and it seemed like your team was able to settle in. Obviously you're still watching the game. What did you see from the way your club responded to kind of the emotions of the start of that game?

KEVIN SCHNALL: It ended up being 5-3. You've got to give their pitcher credit. The breaking ball was pretty good. There's a reason why there were so many the strikeouts. And we were just expanding the zone a little too much.

That said, we got a couple of good swings. We were right there in it. We just couldn't get enough swings.

It came down to we kept getting guys on base. We just couldn't deliver enough hits, and a lot of that you've got to give them credit. Their pitchers threw very well.

Q. Just the run you guys made here. You set a couple of records for winning streaks, going into the College World Series going into the championship series. Just kind of what the team accomplished to get here and get into the championship series in the first place.

KEVIN SCHNALL: Incredible. And that's why I feel a little gutted right now because the talk is going to be about the ejection, not this team. And it's not right. The front row seat should be the 2025 Coastal Carolina baseball team, not what happened in the first inning.

Q. Coastal Carolina played for the national championship. They lost two games by three runs. What do you want your players to remember about this year and the College World Series?

KEVIN SCHNALL: They accomplished a lot. They accomplished a lot. To get us just back to Omaha after what we did in 2016, and then to come to Omaha and play the way we did and get us back to the World Series finals is really incredible.

And this team will go down -- unfortunately, we lost -- but these two games won't define what this team was. I mean, if this team won a national championship, you could argue this was the best college baseball season in the history.

I'm a little bit of a college geek. I'd go back and think about what the '95 Fullerton team I think had nine losses. There was a Miami team there in -- 2001, Miami was really good.

You could put this team up -- if we won the national championship, I mean this team would have been in conversation with the best season ever in college baseball.

But again these two losses, I don't think, define it. That national championship team obviously is very special. But, man, this team will hold a very special spot in my heart forever.