Crazy 8: LSU claims another championship at CWS (with notebook)
LSU posed by that statute outside the stadium after winning the program's eight national championship: Special tp the American Press / Mitchell Scaglione
CWS FINALS GAME 2 — LSU 5, Coastal Carolina 3
Another year, another dogpile.
Whoa. This is starting to be old hat again for LSU.
And the Tigers and their fans were partying like … it was almost the centerfield gates at Charles Schwab Field had swung open and the 1990s had stormed in.
These titles have always been the goal — LSU expects nothing less — but they had become somewhat intermittent this century.
But LSU's 5-3 victory over Coastal Carolina made it two in the last three years, the latest a suspicion head coach Jay Johnson said he felt as long ago as the fall. Back then it was a varied mix of returnees, transfers and new freshmen.
'I knew we had really good players. This team was a collection of talent that not only became a team, they became a family,' said head coach Jay Johnson who's the first coach in NCAA history to win multiple titles at a school in less than eight years.
'He's the man,' said centerfielder Chris Stanfield, who had the key hit in the four-run fourth inning that put the Tigers ahead for good. 'We know what our jobs are. He lays it all out for us.'
Something worked.
The Tigers took two in a row from a Coastal Carolina that had won 26 in a row before running into the Tigers.
'It took the best team in the country to beat them,' Johnson said. 'LSU is the best team in the country this year — not just the national champion.
'They performed like national champions every single day of this (CWS). We had a great fall … December. We had a great lead-in to the season.
'Then tournament time is our time. And t hey were amazing in the NCAA tournament.'
It all came together — and culminated — Sunday with another addition to a crowded trophy case.
Pitching — LSU got yet another dominant start, this time from Anthony Eyanson starting, and Chase Shores slammed the door again while relieving for the fourth time in the Tigers' five Omaha games.
Hitting — The Tigers put up a crooked number with a four-spot in the fourth inning and never looked back.
Defense — It was flawless, again, as the Tigers were error-free for the fourth time in their five CWS games and it ended, perhaps fittingly, on a double play that ignited the latest Omaha dogpile.
'Character, 100-percent character,' Johnson said. 'It manifests itself in different ways.'
But this Omaha run will be more remembered for LSU pitching, which struckk out 23 Chanticleers in the two games and 61 for the CWS' five games.
'You've got to give their pitching credit,' said Coastal Carolina head coach Kevin Schnall, who didn't see much of it Sunday as he was ejected in the bottom of the first inning for arguing balls and strikes. 'There's a reason why there were so many strike outs. We were just expanding the strike zone a little too much.'
Eyanson followed up Kade Anderson's 3-hit, complete-game shutout on Saturday with 6 1/3 innings allowing three runs on a pair of wind-blown home runs.
He left one out after the second home run with nine strike outs.
Chase Shores came on again with one out in the seventh and retired the first six batters he faced — four on strike outs — before giving up a one-out single in the ninth. It brought the tying run to the plate.
But two pitches later, a 4-6-3 double play ended the suspense and ignited the dogpile.
'I just felt like we didn't ever allow them to have any momentum in the two games,' Johnson said. 'It's like in football — they were in third-and-8 the whole time.'
The Tigers tied the game at 1-1- in the third inning on Ethan Frey's RBI double and chased Sun Belt pitcher of the year Jacob Morrison with four runs in the fourth.
Chris Stanfield and Derek Curiel both had two-run singles in the big inning.
And, suddenly, another victory celebration almost seemed inevitable.
NOTEBOOK
SKIP IN TOWN: Legendary former LSU coach and athletic director Skip Berman made it to Omaha for Sunday's game. The 87-year-old Berkman is still much revered figure in Omaha, not only for the five national championships he won but for how he promoted the CWS.
And Jay Johnson was thrilled to see him. He calls his relationship with Bertman right up there with winning national championships as the best part of coaching at LSU.
'He came into the coaches' locker room today,' Johnson related. 'I knew he was coming, but it still caught me off guard for a second.
'But I was, like, Oh, we're winning today. The man with the magic is in the house.'
QUICK EXIT: Coastal Carolina head coach Kevin Schnall was ejected from the game by home plate umpire Angel Campos in the bottom of the first inning for arguing a strike call due to a pitch-clock violation by hitter Walker Mitchell.
Schnall was warned while still in the dugout and tossed almost immediately when he rushed out toward home plate in an angry mood, probably saying something untoward.
The men in blue weren't done. As the argument escalated, first base coach Matt Schilling was also tossed.
One of the umps took a tumble during the dust-up but it was a fellow ump, not one of the coaches, who accidentally knocked him down.
And there was still more. Coastal athletic director Chance Miller, who was sitting in the dugout, was also tossed.
The NCAA rule book is pretty clear: 'Balls strikes, half-swings, or decisions about hit-by-pitch situations are not to be argued After a warning, any player or coach who continues to argue … shall be ejected.'
When the dust cleared it left associate head coach Chad Oxidine to coach the team.
'It is what it is,' Schnall said. 'But if that warranted an ejection, man, there would be a lot of ejections.'
MVP: LSU's Kade Anderson was named the CWS MVP. In 16 innings over two games in the, Kade Anderson allowed just one run on six hits with 17 strike outs.
GOTTA PLAY HURT: Johnson revealed after the game that second baseman Daniel Dickinson has been playing with a broken hand since the first game of the regionals.
'Broke his hamate bone in a game he hit two homers,' Johnson said. 'Just got five hits in Omaha. It that's not toughness, I don't know what is.'
GLOVE WORK: Maybe it was appropriate that the title game ended on a double play. LSU was error-free in four of its five games in the CWS.
GOOD HIRE: LSU has now won a pair of national championships in Jay Johnson's four years, including two of the last three. He's the first NCAA coach ever to win multiple championships at a school in less than eight years.
REPEAT OFFENDER: LSU's win gives the Southeastern Conference six consecutive national titles — it had been five by five different teams until the Tigers added to their 2023 championship.
1-2 PUNCH: LSU finished the season winning its last 14 games started by either Kade Anderson or Anthony Eyanson.
CALL THE GEEK SQUAD: The game was stopped three times in the first 3 1/3 innings because Coastal pitcher Jacob Morrison's 'Pitchcom' apparently was malfunctioning. It's an earphone that communicates with the dugout.
WEATHER WATCH: Not quite as hot as Saturday's 97-degree game, but it was a 92 degrees at first pitch and the winds were still acting up in the 20-mph range, gusting into the 40s.
The headwinds were more right-to-left than straight in.
If there is a game on Monday, there is a chance of rain in Omaha.
RESTORING ORDER: A rarity in this postseason, but Sunday LSU went with the same lineup and batting order as in Saturday's game. No tweaking.
VETERANS: Ike and Henrietta, a married couple, are the operators of the dual elevators leading to the suites and press box. They've been doing it for 62 years. They run a pair of tight ships.
BY THE NUMBERS: LSU's eighth national championship gives the Tigers a 51-29 all-time record in the CWS, 187-75 in the NCAA tournament … They've won eight of nine trips to the championship round or game … The Tigers are now 16-9 in Charles Schwab field after starting 1-4 after the CWS moved there in 2011…
WIRE TO WIRE: Jared Jones, Steven Milam, Derek Curiel and Daniel Dickinson were the only four Tigers to start all 68 games this year.
FINALLY: Third baseman Chris Stanfield, who's in the lineup for his glove, got his first hit in Omaha in his final at-bat in the eighth inning.
QUICK WORK: A rarity in college baseball, both games in the championship series were under three hours —2:35 Saturday and 2:55 Sunday.
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