By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
OMAHA, Neb. – LSU wore its Sunday best championship gold jerseys, and then made sure it was dressed for the occasion.
Boosted by a four-run fourth inning and clutch pitching from Anthony Eyanson and Chase Shores, the No. 6-seeded Tigers won their eighth national championship Sunday afternoon with a 5-3 victory over 13th-seeded Coastal Carolina to sweep the College World Series finals series.
With a Charles Schwab Stadium LSU-dominated crowd of 24,734 on its feet, Tigers’ second baseman Daniel Dickinson and shortstop Steven Milam turned a game-ending double play that earned head coach Jay Johnson a place in history.
“Our motto for the year was `tough and together’,” said Johnson, the first Division I head coach ever to win the national championship twice in his first four years at a school.
“And I’ve never seen a team more mentally tough and consistent …. We went through probably the hardest schedule in college baseball, and we had one little speed bump (being swept in a three-game series) at Auburn. Other than that, they dominated the season, and they dominated the schedule. And it is talent, but it is character.”
Johnson’s second LSU team, a power-hitting squad led by pitcher Paul Skenes and outfielder Dylan Crews, who were selected No. 1 and No. 2 overall in the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft, won the ’23 national title in a three-game finals series over fellow SEC member Florida after coming out of the losers’ bracket.
The 2025 national champs were Tigers of a different stripe. Not only did they win five straight CWS games, but they won all season in a variety of ways with an eclectic roster of 12 returnees, 10 transfer portal acquisitions, three junior college transfers, and 10 freshmen signees.
“We had the right guys on the bus since day one,” LSU sophomore right fielder Jake Brown said. “Those guys came together for a common goal. There was a clear motive. When you play at LSU, just making it to Omaha isn’t enough.”
The Tigers’ chemistry was on display in Sunday’s win that ended LSU’s magic ride at 53-15 after CWS wins over Arkansas 4-1, UCLA 9-5, Arkansas 6-5, Coastal 1-0 in Saturday’s championship finals series game one and a second straight win over the Chanticleers (56-13) who had their 26-game winning streak snapped Saturday.
Junior returning designated hitter Ethan Frey’s RBI single tied Sunday’s game 1-1 in the third inning before Auburn transfer centerfielder Chris Stanfield and true freshman left fielder Derek Curiel hit consecutive two-run RBI singles in the fourth inning to give LSU all the runs it needed.
That’s because starter Eyanson, the junior transfer from UC-San Diego, and redshirt sophomore returnee Shores combined for 13 strikeouts and one walk.
Coastal’s only runs were a pair of homers over the left wall off Eyanson. Designated hitter Dean Mihos’ solo shot gave Coastal a 1-0 lead in the second, and center fielder Wells Sykes’ two-run dinger in the seventh on Eyanson’s 99th and final pitch of the day suddenly sliced the Tigers’ comfortable 5-1 margin to just two runs.
Shores, who missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery, blanked the Chanticleers in the final 2.2 innings. His 100 miles per hour fastball struck out four of the eight batters he faced and induced the game-ending double play.
“We’ve been tested all year,” said Eyanson, who struck out nine and walked one in 6.1 innings in finishing the season 12-2. “I was just waiting for adversity to hit me in the game. Right when that happened. I knew that’s when I put my pedal to the metal and pushed a little more, pushed a little bit more, and just continued to fight for the team. I got guys behind me that just did their job.”
Sophomore Kade Anderson, who allowed one earned run in 16 innings in winning two CWS games, including his 135-pitch complete game shutout of Coastal on Saturday, became the third Tigers’ pitcher ever to win the CWS Most Outstanding Player award.
Dominant hurling, meshed with error-free fielding and timely hitting, was the Tigers’ winning formula.
Besides Sunday’s two homers, no other Chanticleers made it past second base in either loss. LSU made every fielding play, no matter the degree of difficulty, dealing with mid-90-degree heat and 20 miles per hour wind.
Coastal batted a chilly .177 (11 for 62) in the one and two-run losses to the Tigers, who hit .254 (16 for 63). The Chanticleers, who put runners on base in 17 of 18 innings, hit .188 (3 for 19) with two outs, 3 for 28 with runners on base (3 for 28), and 0 for 9 in scoring position (0 for 12).
Coastal head coach Kevin Schnall remained confident after Saturday’s close loss because he had unbeaten starter Jacob Morrison starting on Sunday.
But after LSU rocked Morrison for four runs and three hits, he was pulled after 3.2 innings, ending his shortest stint for the season and handing him his first loss in 13 decisions.
Things started going downhill for the Chanticleers in the bottom of the first inning with third baseman Walker Mitchell, Coastal’s fourth batter of the day, at the plate. Everyone in the stadium was stunned when Coastal head coach Kevin Schnall and first base coach Matt Schilling were ejected by plate umpire Angel Campos for continuing a verbal diatribe with Campos despite repeated warnings.
On Eyanson’s 10th pitch of the game with two outs, Campos warned Schnall three times to stop arguing with him, first apparently about a warning Campos had already given Schilling.
When Schnall persisted, left the dugout, and sent Campos a verbal shot about erroneous ball and strike calls, he was ejected by Campos. A minute later, Schilling was also tossed.
Campos and Schilling then received a two-game suspension (that now carries over to the start of the 2026 season) for not immediately leaving the dugout after being ejected and continuing to argue.
“There’s 25,000 people there, and I vaguely hear a warning issued,” Schnall said. “I was an assistant for 24 years, and as an assistant, you’re almost treated like a second-grade second-level citizen, and you can’t say a word. Now, as a head coach, I think it is your right to get an explanation of why we got warned.
“I’m 48 years old. I shouldn’t get shooed by another grown man (Campos). When I walk out to find out what the warning is, a grown man shooed me. At that point, I can now hear him say, `It was a warning issued for arguing balls and strikes.’ At that point I said, `Because you missed three.’ At that point, ejected.
“If that warrants an ejection, I’m the first one to stand here like a man and apologize. It is what it is. But if that warranted an ejection, man, there would be a lot of ejections.
“As an umpire, I feel like it’s your job to manage the game, the national championship game, with some poise, some calmness, and a little bit of tolerance.”
Coastal associate head coach Chad Oxedine served as head coach for the final 8.1 innings. But the Tigers, who trailed just five times in three CWS games and led from start to finish in two others, were on a mission.
Everybody knew it, especially legendary 87-year-old former LSU baseball coach Skip Bertman, who won the Tigers’ first five national titles.
Bertman flew to Omaha for the championship series. He visited Johnson in the coaches’ locker room before Sunday’s game.
“I knew he (Bertman) was coming, but it still caught me off guard for a second,” said Johnson, whose unbeaten CWS run was the first for the Tigers since Bertman’s last title team in 2000. “I was like, `Oh, we’re winning today.’ The man with the magic is in the house.
“Then he started talking like what we were going to do for the celebration. I was like, `Coach, this is a pretty good team that we have to figure out how to beat.’”
Johnson should have known better to question the Obi-Wan Kenobi of LSU baseball. Those wise old eyes know a team that has the force with it when he sees it.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com