CWS 2016: Predicting Winners and Scores for Thursday's NCAA Baseball Bracket

And then there were five. Arizona's 3-0 win over UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday dwindled the number of teams remaining in Omaha, Nebraska, down the five, with Texas Tech and Coastal Carolina going head-to-head Thursday night to determine the fourth semifinalist.

The Red Raiders and Chanticleers share the same trajectory. Both teams defeated top-seeded Florida and lost to TCU. 

For Coastal Carolina, their upset over the Gators came via a 2-1 nail-biter. Andrew Beckwith outdueled Florida starter Logan Shore, handing him his first loss of the 2016 season. TCU then held Coastal Carolina in check during a 6-1 romp. 

Game	Time	Network	Stream
Texas Tech vs. Coastal Carolina	8 p.m. ET	ESPN2	WatchESPN

If you would have told the Chanticleers they'd score only two runs in their first two games in Omaha, most would have expected them to be headed home. Coastal Carolina is the highest-scoring team in the NCAA tournament and has blasted opposing pitchers all season. 

“My frustration is even though we won a game, we had to have a heroic pitching effort to get it done,” coach Gary Gilmore said, per the Associated Press (via the Winston-Salem Journal). “We’re a better team than we’ve shown. Hopefully we can come back Thursday and show people how we actually got here.”

After hitting an NCAA-high 94 home runs coming into Omaha, Coastal Carolina's offense has come up dry so far through its first two games.

“We’ve shown time and time again that we can have a bad game and put it on some people the next game,” G.K. Young said. “I’m not worried about this game. We haven’t shown our ability to hit in this ballpark, and I think it’s coming.”

Texas Tech had been even more dependent on its offense coming into this set of games. While Coastal Carolina ranks a decent 31st in earned run average, the Red Raiders sit all the way back in 96th. Some of that is a byproduct of schedule strength. Texas Tech spent its entire season battling against a strong Big 12 conference, while Coastal Carolina gets a relative breezy slate with the Big South.

Still, the lack of offensive production for the Red Raiders has to be a concern. They scored three runs apiece in their opening loss to TCU and upset of Florida. Davis Martin threw seven innings of scoreless ball in the 3-2 win over the Gators, as Texas Tech held on in a wild ninth that saw Hayden Howard almost blow the save. 

It was the first win in Omaha for the Red Raiders, who are making their second appearance overall.

Thursday's matchup may also serve as a requiem for the seeding process. Texas Tech is the only remaining seeded team left in Omaha. A Coastal Carolina win would mean two straight years of the final teams in the tournament not being national seeds. A top-eight team hasn't won the national championship since South Carolina in 2011.

That's not an especially great omen for Texas Tech, which is already inexperienced on this level.

Either way, look for both offenses to get back on the board in full force. Neither team boasts an especially strong pitching staff on the macro level, and they'll be scrounging since they'll be down to their third starters so far in Omaha.

A night after Arizona shut the lights out on Santa Barbara, look for some excitement to envelop the Omaha crowd Thursday.

Pick: Coastal Carolina, 7-6