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LSU rolls over Florida to close out Men's College World Series, win national championship

LSU beat Florida 18-4 on Monday night in Omaha to win its first championship since 2009

ryan young
Staff writer
·3 min read
311
Just one day after they were on the wrong end of a historic blowout, the LSU Tigers closed out the Men's College World Series and won their seventh national championship.

After being blown out the day before in historic fashion, the LSU Tigers baseball team rallied perfectly Monday night.

The Tigers flew past Florida 18-4 on Monday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb., to close out the Men’s College World Series and win the national championship. It marked the program’s seventh title and the first since 2009.

LSU pitcher Paul Skenes was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. He started two games, pitched 15 ⅔ innings, had 21 strikeouts, allowing seven hits and two earned runs.

Florida, after a historic 24-4 blowout win in Game 2 on Sunday, picked up right where it left off on Monday. Wyatt Langford hit a two-run home run in the first inning to put the Gators on the board first.

That, however, was about it.

LSU erupted in the second inning and never looked back. The Tigers put up six runs, three on Florida pitcher Jac Caglianone, who walked in a run and allowed another after hitting a batter with a pitch before he was replaced by Cade Fisher. The Tigers got three more on Fischer off a pair of RBI singles and a sacrifice fly to completely flip the game around.

Then in the fourth, Josh Pierson hit an RBI single and then was knocked in by a deep shot from Josh Pearson.

Cade Beloso added an RBI single before the end of the inning, which put the Tigers up by eight at the time.

Though Florida’s Ty Evans hit a solo home run in the seventh, and Cade Kurland got one in the eighth, it was far too late to make a meaningful impact. LSU added three more runs in the eighth inning, which was kicked off by a huge triple from Dylan Crews. Crews hit the Angel Reese celebration while standing on third base, too, perfectly honoring the last LSU star to win a national championship earlier this year.

That celebration only gained steam from there, too. The Tigers then picked up four more in the ninth after a pair of RBI doubles and then a two-run homer from Brayden Jobert.

From there, the Tigers simply held on to take the 14-run win and the national championship. The Tigers had a MCWS record 24 hits in the win, too, surpassing Florida's record-tying performance on Sunday night. LSU also left 18 runners stranded on base, yet had no issue taking the 18-4 win. The Gators were held to just four hits.

“This is what I’ve dreamed of ever since I was a freshman,” Crews, a projected top pick in the MLB Draft, said on ESPN. “This moment right here, holding this trophy, it’s the best feeling in the world. I can’t put words to it.”

LSU, after reaching the finals out of the losers bracket, barely won Game 1 of the series on Saturday night. Tigers pitcher Ty Loyd struck out a career-high 17 batters in that 11-inning win, which only ended after a game-winning home run from Beloso. His 17 strikeouts were the most in a MCWS game in 51 years. Florida then responded to extend the series on Sunday in what was the most lopsided MCWS finals game since 1957. Florida was seeking its first championship since 2017.