National champion LSU Tigers pack punch offensively, but they hang hats on pitching under Johnson
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — During its rise as a national power in the 1990s, LSU built its identity on prodigious home run numbers, a style coined “Gorilla Ball.”
The game changed over the decades, and so did the Tigers. They still have plenty of offense, but pitching is the name of the game in the bayou nowadays.
LSU’s pitching prowess was omnipresent in the College World Series as the Tigers won their second national championship in three years with a two-game sweep of Coastal Carolina in the finals.
The Tigers posted a CWS-best 2.60 ERA over five games, and opponents batted .205 and just .145 with runners in scoring position.
Most Outstanding Player Kade Anderson, who threw a three-hit shutout in Game 1 of the finals, had an 0.56 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 16 innings over two starts.
Anthony Eyanson turned in a strong start in Sunday’s 5-3 win in Game 2, striking out nine over 6 1/3 innings.
Chase Shores made four relief appearances, earned two saves and retired seven of the Chanticleers’ last eight batters in the title-clinching win.
“If you’re a pitcher and you don’t want to come here right now, you’re out to lunch,” Tigers coach Jay Johnson said. “You’re not thinking clearly, because that’s three dudes that pitched in the series that are all going to be in the major leagues within 18 months.”
The 2023 championship team had one of the most potent offenses in the country with Dylan Crews and Tommy White, but it didn’t overshadow the pitching staff.
Paul Skenes, the CWS Most Outstanding Player, was the No. 1 pick in the MLB amateur draft, right ahead of Crews. Ty Floyd, the Tigers’ No. 2 starter, also was a first-rounder.
Since 2022, Johnson’s first season at LSU, 18 of the Tigers’ 26 draft picks have been pitchers. That includes two of four in 2022, eight of 13 in 2023 and eight of nine in 2024.
Three of the four LSU players listed among MLB.com’s top 85 prospects for next month’s draft are pitchers. Anderson’s performances in Omaha could put him in line to be the second No. 1 overall pick in three years for LSU.
The Tigers have maintained consistency on the mound even though they’ve had three pitching coaches in four years. The first was Jason Kelly, who left to become head coach at Washington. Wes Johnson was in charge in 2023 and left to become head coach at Georgia. Nate Yeskie just finished his second year after being hired away from Texas A&M.
“He always says he’s coaching us for the player he thinks we’re going to be rather than the player we are right now,” Shores said. “So just holding us to the higher standard just allows us to go out there and just work really hard and do our job.”
Johnson said he was happy Shores was on the mound when LSU locked down the championship. The 6-foot-8, 252-pound right-hander was a weekend starter to open 2023 and injured his right arm six weeks into the season. He had Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2024 season. He was throwing 100 mph as he closed out Coastal Carolina on Sunday.
“He had to go through the 18-month recovery rehab and persevered through all of that,” Johnson said. “And there’s nobody I would have rather had finish the game tonight for the second national championship than Chase Shores.”
Shores originally pledged to Oklahoma State before flipping to LSU three years ago. Johnson laid out a plan for him and told him he would make a run at a national championship if he went to LSU. Shores won two.
“Coach Johnson just made me feel wanted,” he said. “He was persistent in the way he was recruiting me. Once you get to campus, he keeps recruiting you, because that’s just the coach he is. I’m really thankful I ended up coming to LSU.”
___
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports