On a hot and sunny Sunday afternoon, the LSU Tigers beat the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers 5-3 to become national champions for the eighth time in school history.
This is the first undefeated Men’s College World Series run since 2013 when UCLA won it all.
“Unbelievable,” head coach Jay Johnson said in his opening remarks after winning the national championship. “I’m so proud right now.”
This game got started with a little flare, as Coastal Carolina head coach Kevin Schnall and first base coach Matt Schilling were ejected in the first inning after arguing over a possible pitch clock violation.
Schnall was told multiple times by home plate umpire, Angel Campos, to stay in the dugout in which he refused, leading to his ejection.
Both coaches escalated the argument enough for the NCAA to suspend them for game three if need be or the first game of next season.
As far as how the scoring got started, in the bottom of the second inning Dean Mihos hit a solo homerun over Derek Curiel’s head in left field giving the Chanticleers the early 1-0 lead.
The Tigers responded quickly. Ethan Frey stepped up to the plate with Daniel Dickinson on second base. He hit a hard line drive over left fielder, Sebastian Alexander, as Dickinson was able to get the wheels going and trot into home plate to even the score.
The Tigers then continued to keep the ball rolling in the top of the fourth inning where they were able to put up a four spot to take the lead.
Chris Stanfield came up to the plate with the bases loaded as he was able to hit a single to left field, scoring two runners, giving LSU a 3-1 lead.
“I went up there with a clear mind,” Stanfield said. “I was trying to do it for the guys.”
The scoring in the fourth didn’t end there though, as Derek Curiel was able to hit a ball right up the middle for a single, bringing Stanfield all the way home.
Although the fourth inning was the end of the scoring for LSU, the pitching from Anthony Eyanson and Chase Shores made sure the lead was safe.
Eyanson had one more hiccup in the seventh inning as Wells Skyes hit a two run homerun to cut the lead back down to two.
Eyanson left the game in the middle of the seventh inning after the homerun as Chase Shores came in the game for relief.
Eyanson finished the game pitching 6.1 innings, allowing seven hits, three runs and striking out nine batters.
“Just super grateful for coach Johnson giving me the opportunity,” Eyanson Said. “And thankful for God, obviously.”
Once Shores entered the game, it was pretty much all she wrote. Shores struck out four batters in his 2.2 innings of work while only giving up one hit.
“Being a part of that ‘23 team was special,” Shores said. “But just to play a part in this run in Omaha was a dream come true.”
As the ninth inning was upon us, with a runner on and one out, a ground ball was hit to Daniel Dickinson. In which he was able to flip it over to Steven Milam. Milam then threw the ball as hard as he could over to Jared Jones as the Tigers completed the double play and became national champions.
“This is equal and maybe even tops in some ways,” head coach Jay Johnson said, comparing the championship victory in 2023.
With this victory Jay Johnson has officially won two national championships in three years.
Johnson and LSU retained only 12 players from the team in 2024 which makes this national championship victory a little bit sweeter.
LSU has now officially won eight national championships in baseball dating back to 1991.
One of the main contributors to this success is legendary head coach, Skip Bertman.
“Literally the best part of me being the head coach at LSU has been the relationship that I have with Skip Bertman,” Jay Johnson said when asked about what it meant for coach Bertman to be in attendance.
For Jay Johnson and the 2025 LSU Tigers: Mission Complete.
