The LSU Tigers are back on top for the first time since 2009 as they top the Florida Gators in the Men’s College World Series.
LSU made history by becoming the first Division I team to win a Basketball and Baseball championship in the same year. That’s not even scratching the surface of all the records that now have to be altered following the MCWS.
The player projected to be selected first in the MLB draft, LSU outfielder Dylan Crews, took home the Golden Spikes Award. He became the first player to take home the honors and win the National Championship since 1995.
Most Outstanding Player recipient and projected second pick, Paul Skenes masterful showing, followed by a Tommy ‘Tanks’ White walk-off home run against Wake Forest in a do-or-die game, pushed LSU into the finals to face the Florida Gators.
Ty Floyd took the bump for the Tigers in game one of the Finals. He went eight innings with five hits, three earned runs, and a College World Series record-tying 17 strikeouts. LSU took the lead early but lost it late in the sixth. Nothing that a Tommy Tank can’t fix. White smashed a ball into the left-field bleachers to tie the game in the eighth.
The game stayed knotted into the top of the 11th inning when Cade Beloso smacked a tie-breaking solo shot, which would end up being the difference in this tough-fought game.
Game two started equally as optimistic for LSU. Scoring one in the first, then adding two more in the second. But the Gators put up six in the top of the third, and the Tigers couldn’t dig out of it. Florida was up 7-2 after the first five innings. A margin they would have won by if they hadn’t scored a run the rest of the game. Instead, they went on to score the most runs in a College World Series Final game.
Five in the sixth, two in the seventh, four in the eighth, and five more in the ninth resulted in a monstrous 24-4 game-two victory for Florida. The Gators walloped six home runs, the second most in a College World Series game.
This wasn’t a one-game explosion from Florida, they were destroying the ball in Omaha. They ended the tournament with 17 home runs. The most by a team since Charles Schwab Field hosted the event.
Gators outfielder Ty Evans caught fire during the tournament. Coming in with only four that made it over the wall to his name all season, he hit five over the short six-game period. Creating a new record for most home runs by a single player in the College World Series.
The Gators took the lead first in the decisive game three via the long ball. The Tigers, getting flashbacks of their previous beatdown, didn’t let it spiral. Countering with six of their own in the following inning. The Tigers now had a margin they would have won by if they didn’t score again in the game. Instead, LSU went on a tear of their own. Putting up 18 runs with 24 hits. The most hits in a game the College World Series has ever seen. 18-4 was the final as LSU became National Champions for the 7th time in franchise history.
