LSU Defeats UF to Take Home the College World Series Title

After a historically bad 24-4 loss in game two of the College World Series, the LSU Tigers bounced back with an 18-4 blowout win of their own to defeat the Florida Gators and take home the title. 

The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 series lead with some late game heroics in an eleven-inning thriller on Saturday night. Florida responded by winning game two 24-4 and forcing Monday night’s winner-take-all matchup. UF jumped out early with a two-run homerun in the bottom of the first inning by Wyatt Langford and it was looking like the Gators bats were still red-hot following Sunday’s 24 run outburst. 

LSU quickly extinguished any momentum that UF had by responding with six runs in the top half of the second inning. The Tigers had firm control of the game from that point on and continued to pour it on. LSU saw firsthand the type of offensive firepower that the Gators possessed and wanted to leave no possibility of a comeback.

While a stunned UF team struggled to get going again offensively, the Tigers added four more runs in the fourth inning to extend their lead to 10-2. Another run in the seventh, three more in the eighth and a four run ninth inning resulted in a final score of 18-4 and the Tigers first Men’s College World Series Title since 2009.

One of the most impressive feats of the Tigers’ title is that they did it without needing an appearance from Paul Skenes, the best pitcher in all of college baseball, in the series against the Gators. Skenes was arguably the most talked about player in the College World Series and the Tigers wouldn’t have made it this far without him.

After throwing well over 100 pitches during a Thursday night gem that sent the Tigers to the World Series Final, Skenes was expected to appear on a limited pitch count in Monday’s rubber match. The Tigers jumped out to such a large lead early on that they didn’t even need the services of their ace pitcher to bring the trophy back home to Baton Rouge.

LSU was ranked as the top team in the country in the preseason and looked to be the title favorites for most of the year. A late season slide and an early exit in the SEC tournament dropped them down to the fifth seed and raised some questions going into the postseason, but it’s safe to say that those questions have been answered.

LSU coach Jay Johnson took over the Tigers’ baseball program just two years ago after leaving Arizona. He believed in the roster and the infrastructure that LSU had in place and quickly returned LSU to a national contender. Johnson became the first coach in college baseball to win a National Championship before their third year at a school.

After going 40-22 and losing in the regional finals last season, Johnson and the Tigers added the nation’s number one recruiting class and landed multiple top players in the transfer portal. One of those transfer portal stars was ace pitcher Paul Skenes, who came over from Air Force. Skenes was named the CWS Most Outstanding player despite not appearing in the final series.

Jay Johnson had a plan to come in and retool the Tigers’ roster quickly and had the full support of the LSU athletic department behind them. Johnson’s plan was executed perfectly and culminated with him lifting the College World Series Trophy on Monday night.

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