GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
OMAHA, Nebraska – You know, a school has been coming to the College World Series a lot when its fans have two headquarters.
That’s the situation with the LSU Traveling Nation as it is waist deep in its 20th trip here since 1986 and shooting for national championship No. 8. There is Barrett’s Barleycorn Pub & Grill at 4322 Leavenworth Drive in Midtown, where LSU fans have partied since the ’80s. And three miles away, at 13th and Mike Fahey streets, just steps from Charles Schwab Field – home of the College World Series – is Rocco’s Pizza & Cantina.
This is Omaha’s version of the Walk-Ons just a block from Alex Box Stadium. Location, location, location. And in Rocco’s case, it’s even closer, and they added this marketing shot of genius:
Shots, shots, shots with Jell-O, Jell-O, Jell-O in school colors.
TIGER RAG RADIO LIVE FROM OMAHA
“Everyone thinks their fan base is the best,” Rocco’s manager Pat McEvoy said on Tiger Rag Radio Tuesday night as his establishment was on the way to serving up 20,555 purple and gold shots so far as of 1 p.m. Wednesday.
“But the only way to prove it is to quantify it somehow,” he said. “So, we started serving shots with each team color in 2019.”
48638 shots! We are still rocking and ready for a couple BIG midweek games! Will shot fatigue set in or can @LSUbaseball @RazorbackBSB @CoastalBaseball and @LouisvilleBSB dig in and find out how deep their well is? #cws2025 #roadtoroccos pic.twitter.com/jb0AJ4ExFv
— CWS Jello Shot Challenge (@CWSShotBoard) June 18, 2025
Arkansas, which plays LSU at 6 tonight on ESPN in a semifinal round game, is currently in second place at 7,876 shots. Murray State was eliminated in two games, but not forgotten. The Racers are in third with 7,779 shots. Coastal Carolina is fourth at 5,543, followed by Oregon State (1,889), Louisville (1,832), Arizona (1,747) and UCLA (1,422).
The Razorbacks also won the first official Jell-O Shot title in 2019 with a mere 864, but Rocco’s was just testing the palate and only advertising by word of mouth – unless you could hear the shot glass pounding on the bar while walking to a game.
Mississippi State won the title in 2021 with 2,965 shots and the other one – the baseball national championship – on the same night with 2020 skipped because of COVID.
Before the 2022 CWS, McEvoy took to social media with news of the Shot Series @CWSShotBoard on Twitter, and the rest is history.
“It blew up,” he said. “I had 17 followers on Monday, and 17,000 by the end of the week.”
Ole Miss won the 2022 national title and the Jell-O roll with 18,777. McEvoy and Rocco’s owners Kevin and Bonnie Culjat also started giving much of the Jell-O shot proceeds to the Omaha Food Bank and other charities. That total is over $350,000 since ’22, McEvoy said.
Then LSU fans bellied up to the bar and then some in 2023 in search of their first national championship on the field since 2009 and their first Jell-O jam. They got it with 68,888. That’s called a Jell-slide.
Tennessee won the baseball national championship and the Jell-O title, but only with 38,340 shots, which is embarrassing for a bourbon tour state known. Jack Daniels must have turned over in his last big shot glass.
McEvoy can’t see LSU not winning it all this year, speaking of Jell-O, and he likes their chances on the field, too.
“It’s pretty simple,” the Omaha native said in a previous interview. “LSU has always brought the most fans. And they’re partiers. They just love Omaha, and Omaha loves them back. Because LSU has been coming to the World Series for so long, they know Omaha blindfolded. I’m sure they could make the 15-hour drive from Baton Rouge blindfolded.”
And LSU brings movers and shakers. Gordon McKernan bought 8,888 in 2023 and is expected to make a similar purchase. Raising Cane’s chicken magnate Todd Graves clucked up 6,000 shots two years ago before restaurant giant Shane Morrison ate 6,001.
LSU College World Series 2023 MVP and national champion pitcher Paul Skenes stopped by in between games for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday with girlfriend and former LSU gymnast national champ Livvy Dunne.
“Paul actually bought a couple hundred shots and said to just pass them out to Tiger fans throughout the bar. So we did that,” McEvoy said. “What it takes is to stick around. The more games, the more chances to buy shots.”
And pray for rain.
Yes, McEvoy celebrated the three-hour rain delay Monday night and subsequent suspension of the LSU-UCLA game to Tuesday.
“Oh, rain delay are my favorite two words,” he said. “There’s nowhere to go. So you flood Rocco’s. They’re not going back to the hotel because what if they start the game in 40 minutes?”
LSU coach Jay Johnson does not like rain delays as much as McEvoy, but he is learning his fan base.
“We played, like, four games after 10 p.m. this year, and finished a couple at 1:30 in the morning,” Johnson said after the Monday night game finally finished on Tuesday morning with a 9-5 win over Arkansas.
“Luckiest guy in the world, because our fans will stay,” he said. “We’ll have to work on their alarm clocks, because the send-off for the team was a little light this morning at 7:45 a.m.”
You can blame Rocco’s, Jay.
“But they’re night people. And provided we stay on schedule, hopefully we’ll have them back out,” Johnson said.
McEvoy knows they’ll be back out at his place.
“LSU coming to the World Series is the difference between a couple of good weeks,” he said. “And the place going crazy. It always gets absolutely out of hand.”
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