OMAHA, NEBRASKA – JUNE 22: Jake Brown #7 of the LSU Tigers leaps onto the dogpile in celebration … More
Over the past 20-plus years, the LSU Tigers men’s baseball team has become a national powerhouse at the Division 1 level. Since 1991, the program has collected 20 College World Series berths and seven national championships, with a handful of legendary coaches leading the charge along the way.
History repeated itself for LSU once again as this year’s team pulled off a two-game sweep of the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers last weekend to secure the program’s eighth baseball title. In the title game series, the Tigers surrendered just three earned runs and 10 total hits against a Chanticleers squad that entered the matchup riding a nation-best 26-game winning streak.
While this year’s iteration didn’t feature the SEC-record 13 MLB draft prospects like the program’s 2023 national championship team, it leaned on its bullpen to carry the load. That bullpen featured ace Kade Anderson, a projected top-three MLB Draft prospect and the College World Series Most Outstanding Player.
The 6-foot-2 left-hander threw a 130-pitch complete game in the team’s 1-o Game 1 victory over Coastal Carolina. Anderson struck out 10 and surrendered just three hits to collect his 12th win in 13 decisions this season as a draft-eligible sophomore.
During Game 2, LSU utilized two pitchers in Starter Anthony Eyanson and reliever Chase Shores. Eyanson yielded seven hits and three runs while striking out nine across 6 1/3 innings before leaving with a 5-3 lead. Shores finished the rest of the matchup with 2 mostly flawless innings that saw him surrender one hit, strike out four and help collect the program’s final eight outs.
There was also a better overall batting performance from the Tigers in Game 2 than Game 1. LSU collected double-digit hits (10), scored multiple runs and had two multi-hit performers in designated hitter Ethan Fry (3 for 5) and left fielder Derek Curiel (2 for 4).
Fry, Curiel, and outfielder Chris Stanfield all drove in runs during the third and fourth innings that erased the Chanticleers’ early 1-0 lead and put the Tigers up 5-1 heading into the fifth. While they never scored again, they allowed no more than two runs by Coastal Carolina in the final five innings.
Tigers’ head coach Jay Johnson latest victory makes him the fastest college coach to multiple baseball titles, bringing home a second national championship in just four seasons with LSU. Previously, he served as the Arizona Wildcats’ head coach where he went 208-114 across five seasons with the former Pac-12 school and secured two College World Series berths (2016, 2021) before bolting to Baton Rouge a season later.
“I’m just so proud,” Johnson told ABC following the team’s title-winning victory. “Our Motto for the year was ‘Tough and Together’, and that’s what they did from Aug. 26 until now. I’m incredibly proud.”
LSU (53-15) capped off its College World Series berth with five straight wins in Omaha and surrendered no more than five runs in each matchup. With the championship, they move into second all-time behind USC (12) for the most baseball national titles at the Division 1 level.
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