College baseball viewed them as a Cinderella when they captured the NCAA title in their first MCWS appearance in 2016, knocking off No. 1 seed Florida and No. 5 seed Texas Tech along the way. But in the seven NCAA Tournaments since, Coastal Carolina hadn't even advanced past the regionals — until now.

Auburn held a 1-0 lead until the seventh inning when Coastal Carolina broke through for three runs. Sebastian Alexander hit a leadoff double and was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Blake Barthol. Walker Mitchell followed up with an RBI single to tie the score at 1-1.

Auburn looks to even the series with Coastal Carolina on Saturday to keep its College World Series hopes alive.