LSU wins first College World Series title since 2009, beating Florida 18-4 one day after 20-run loss

OMAHA, Neb. — A day after it gave up the most runs ever in a College World Series game, LSU cranked up its offense and won its first national title since 2009 with an 18-4 victory over Florida on Monday night in the third and deciding game of the finals.

LSU (54-17) staved off elimination three times in bracket play and bounced back from the humiliating 24-4 loss in Game 2 to claim its seventh championship, second to Southern California’s 12.

“Right people, right place, right time,” Tigers coach Jay Johnson said. “This is the way it was supposed to go.”

The Tigers wiped out an early 2-0 deficit with a six-run second inning against Jac Caglianone (7-4). The runs kept coming until they finished with the most in a title game since USC’s 21-14 win over Arizona State in 1998. The 14-run margin was the largest ever in a final. Their 24 hits were most in a CWS game.

“It wasn’t our day, all the way around,” Gators catcher BT Riopelle said.

Thatcher Hurd (8-3) gave up Wyatt Langford’s two-run homer in the first and then allowed no hits or runs while retiring 18 of the next 21 batters. Riley Cooper took over to start the seventh and gave up Ty Evans’ CWS-record fifth homer, and Gavin Guidry finished the combined five-hitter.

There was speculation after Sunday’s blowout loss about the Tigers bringing back ace Paul Skenes for a third start in Omaha. He threw a combined 243 pitches over 15 2/3 innings in two spectacular appearances, and he would have been working on three days’ rest.

It turned out Skenes was able to watch from the dugout in the comfort of his sneakers while LSU poured on the runs and Hatcher kept dealing. Skenes headed to the bullpen to do some stretching in the seventh inning, but he went back to the dugout after the eighth and stayed there until he and teammates rushed the mound when Guidry struck out Colby Halter to end it.

Skenes was named the Most Outstanding Player of the CWS.

The overwhelmingly partisan LSU crowd included Kim Mulkey, coach of the national champion women’s basketball team and the mother of Kramer Robertson, who played shortstop on the 2017 team that lost to Florida in the CWS finals.

The Tigers had been pointing toward a title run since their first team meeting last August. Johnson brought back Southeastern Conference player of the year Dylan Crews and the rest of the core of his team’s 2022 lineup.

Three key transfers took LSU to a higher level. Skenes was the first college pitcher in 12 years with 200 strikeouts and could be the No. 1 pick in the amateur draft. Tommy White hit 24 homers and drove in a nation-leading 105 runs. Hurd was solid as a starter and reliever and matched his longest outing of the year in the title game.

The Tigers were the consensus No. 1 team in the polls from the preseason until the first week of May, when they were overtaken by Wake Forest. They finished the season well enough to be the No. 5 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, and they swept through regionals and super regionals in Baton Rouge to make it to Omaha for the first time since they were national runners-up six years ago.