As Florida recorded the last out of the 2017 College World Series, Chris Reid dropped to a crouch.
He watched as Beau Jordan ground out, watched as Florida formed a dog pile and watched as LSU’s season ended.
He walked back to the locker room, listened to Paul Maineri’s brief postgame talk and rode the bus back to the team hotel in silence.
That was the last time Reid would play in Omaha. But it wouldn’t be the last time baseball would bring him to Omaha.
Reid is one of several players from LSU baseball’s 2017 team that have made their way to Omaha to see if 2023’s team can do what they couldn’t: beat Florida in the CWS and bring a national championship back to Baton Rouge. 
“It’s still a dark cloud for many of the guys on that team,” Reid said. “Just knowing we were so close to bringing a national championship back to LSU and really cementing our legacy as one of the great squads in the lineage of LSU national championship history.”
Reid grew up a Baton Rouge native and fan of the Tigers. His father studied business at LSU and his grandfather earned his master’s and became a professor at the school, according to his LSU baseball bio.  
“My time at LSU, it was a dream come true,” Reid said. “The experience was everything I thought it was since I was a young kid.”
For Reid, the 2017 loss to Florida in the CWS was both a low point and a high point in his LSU playing career. Beating Oregon State, considered one of the best college baseball teams ever, in consecutive games after losing the first game against Oregon State will always be a fond memory.  
LSU’s 2023 squad has done something similar. It beat Wake Forest, the top team in the country, twice in a row after dropping the first game against it.
However, making it to the championship is not the goal. Winning it is.
Just like in 2017, the 2023 Tigers will have to go through the Gators to accomplish that goal. Reid said coming up short still hurts, no matter how special of an accomplishment making it to the finals is. 
“Obviously there’s a sense of accomplishment because I think all athletes agree that it takes an incredible team and an incredible ability to play to even make it the College World Series and then the national championship,” Reid said.
Despite being proud of their accomplishments in 2017, Reid said many of the players from that team still “felt burned” at coming up short so close to the prize. 
The team was given runner’s up trophies for its accomplishments, but Reid couldn’t stand to look at it.
“Mine is still in a box somewhere,” Reid said. “I haven’t seen it since I got back to Baton Rouge from Omaha that year. Just because, it serves a reminder. We didn’t get the job done. I keep the memories from the actual game and things like that fresh in my mind, but I didn’t need that trophy staring me down throughout my life.”
LSU will need to bounce back from a blowout 24-4 loss against Florida in Game Two of the CWS Finals to secure a championship. The 2017 team had a similar experience against Oregon State. Before LSU beat it in two straight games to make the finals, it lost 13-1 to the Beavers.
Reid said while the initial reactions from the players after the 20-run loss were probably similar to those of most LSU fans, he knows the players will have a short memory. 
“It doesn’t last but maybe five minutes,” Reid said. “I think mentally the players are very, very knowledgeable about how they handle the situation. Completely forget about it. I think the boys will be ready to go. It’s a new day.”
Just like it’s a new day for the 2023 squad, it’s a new day for the 2017 squad. Reid said that a win against Florida in 2023 would feel almost like a win in 2017.
“We’re kind of living vicariously though this 2023 team,” Reid said. “A win for them would feel exactly like we’re winning the national championship right there with them and will make up for all that heartbreak. I’ve had a few guys even talk about probably crying tears of joy. It’s definitely a different feeling being a fan, but it’s going to be just like we went back in time to 2017.”
Reid is confident LSU can get the job done against Florida this time around. He said if he could tell them anything going into the final game, it’d be to not let the moment get to them. 
“You can’t be nervous,” Reid said. “You can’t let that overtake you and affect your ability because the players are just too good. So go out there, have fun and relax.”
A win for LSU might let Reid finally forget about that second place trophy. 
“I may go drop it off at the Goodwill or something,” Reid said. “Maybe I can contact LSU and maybe they’ll send me a first place one.”