LSU baseball: Tigers fans bid one last goodbye to Dylan Crews at championship celebration
BATON ROUGE – It was like a scene out of "Field of Dreams."
One by one, each player walked through the open gate where the "McDonald's" sign usually stands in center field at Alex Box Stadium to a rabid crowd of LSU baseball fans, patiently waiting to cheer them on one last time.
First it was the bench players, relief pitchers and Ty Floyd. Then it was the rest of LSU's starting lineup from Monday's Game 3 of the 2023 College World Series final, including the injured Alex Milazzo, who was carted out to the field with Mike the Tiger waiving an LSU flag in the back.
However, the best was still saved for last: Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes.
Crews walked out to his walkup song "Calabria 2008." The crowd, as they have done for every game over the last three seasons, started clapping along to the song's beat for one last time. They needed to say goodbye to their hero, arguably the greatest player in program history.
"None of this is possible without you guys," Crews said, addressing the fans at the ceremony. "These coaches hear, I mean, I can't put words to it. This is unbelievable.
"Thank you for the support over the last three years, the best three years of my life."
The Tigers are national champions. LSU beat Florida 18-4 in Game 3 of the College World Series final on Monday to seal the deal.
Wednesday was the championship celebration.
Tiger fans packed The Box, as roughly 8-10,000 of them flooded through the gate to see their team in person for one last time this season, and the last time ever for Crews, Skenes, Tre Morgan and Jordan Thompson, among others.
"I think LSU made us who we are," Crews said. "We were who we are walking in but they provided us with all the resources and the right coaches that we need to, I guess, maximize our potential.
"Without them I don't think we would be where we are today."
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Among those players making their last farewell on Wednesday was Cade Beloso, who put off his wedding in order to rejoin the Tigers for a fifth season. The gesture did not get unnoticed by local injury attorney Gordon McKernan, as he has decided to pay for Beloso's upcoming honeymoon in St. Lucia.
"He felt moved by (me moving my wedding) so we had a meeting today," Beloso said. "I'm a part of the G-team now."
Beloso was also among the handful of Tigers who addressed the crowd during the ceremony along with Gavin Dugas, Tommy White, Morgan and Crews. Crews was the last speaker, sharing his thought process behind spurning MLB for LSU coming out of high school.
"A week before the draft I decided to take myself out and go to school here and experience this with my teammates," Crews said. "...It was the best decision of my life for sure."
Flash forward three years after that decision and Crews is walking out to center field one last time, pointing to his ring finger exactly the same way he did after the triple he blasted in the eighth inning of LSU's national championship-clinching victory.
It's only fitting that his final moment at The Box as a Tiger is with a championship ring.
"Now that it's all over, I'm just so happy," Crews said to the crowd.
Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU baseball: Championship celebration a goodbye to Dylan Crews
