GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
It was just a typical hot summer Wednesday night in Baton Rouge with temperatures still in the 90s and 80 percent-plus humidity.
But there was a crowd of more than 10,000 at Alex Box Stadium, and there was no game.
The place was packed and loud as if for a Super Regional final, but the swarm instead braved the heat for a series of stirring speeches at the microphone.
It was the celebration of the LSU baseball team’s national championship won Sunday night at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. LSU coach Jay Johnson got the biggest ovation of many thunderous ones. And when he got to the microphone, he homered.
“You know what I love about all of you? It doesn’t matter if it’s Wednesday in the middle of June,” Johnson began. “Or if it’s in Baton Rouge, or Omaha, or it’s 1:17 a.m., you never run out of energy.”
And the place went wild.
The 1:17 a.m. reference was one Johnson has made often this season. That was the morning that No. 4 LSU beat No. 5 and defending national champion Tennessee, 6-3, with a six-run rally in the bottom of the ninth that ended at 1:17 a.m. The game’s start was pushed from 6:30 p.m. to 9:55 p.m. because of rain and lightning. Jared Jones won it with a walk-off, three-run home run.
Three guesses who the national coach of the year is:https://t.co/OAm04bkmk2
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) June 25, 2025
“One of my best friends from earlier in life is in sports media, and he would always tell me as I was an up and coming coach that college baseball is a channel changer,” Johnson said. Meaning, it doesn’t draw the television ratings of college football, or even college basketball.
“And the other day, I said, ‘My man, you have not been to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, because this is 1,000 percent the baseball school in the entire country,” Johnson said. “And my first thank you is to you guys – the energy that you bring to these players, the support that you bring to our program, because it is 1,000 percent unmatched.”
Applause and cheers broke out. There were also fireworks as the eighth national championship notation was added to the Intimidator sign.
The Intimidator sign at Alex Box Stadium got another year added to the list of national champions. (Photo by Michael Bacigalupi.)
Louisiana governor Jeff Landry and Baton Rouge mayor Sid Edwards spoke as did LSU Board of Supervisors chairman Scott Ballard, who praised Johnson’s “meticulous precision and strategy.”
LSU finished 53-15 and won 13 of its last 15 games, including a 5-0 mark in Omaha and an eight-game winning streak in the NCAA postseason. The Tigers lost more than two straight regular season games only once – when it was swept in a three-game series at Auburn from April 11-13. They were consistent as they never fell out of the top 10 in the baseball polls.
“As I started thinking about what was going to be important for us to help you spend your summer vacations exactly where you want to in Omaha, Nebraska, we had to formulate a plan for this team last year,” Johnson said. “And our motto for the year was tough and together. And this team was at its best when it mattered the most.”
Such was the case when LSU came back from a 5-3 deficit to Arkansas in the bottom of the ninth last Wednesday at the CWS for a 6-5 win on a Jones walk-off single. That eliminated Arkansas, 6-5, and the Tigers reached the national championship series.
“This team was at its best when it mattered the most,” Johnson said. “When other teams would lose their way when the game was on the line, these guys continued to execute. And for my money, this is the most mentally tough team that I’ve coached in the 25 years I’ve been doing this. Toughness right on the stage right here.”
Master of Ceremonies Bill Franques, who is the baseball team’s media relations director, interviewed College World Series Most Outstanding Player Kade Anderson, who twice pitched the Tigers to victory in Omaha.
“I was in the stands watching this two years ago,” said Anderson, who was a senior at St. Paul’s High in Covington when LSU won the 2023 national title and also had a championship celebration at the Box. “This is a lot more nerve racking than pitching. But this is really cool, man. I dreamed of playing and pitching where I’m standing right now.”
Also cool is the fact that four years ago to the day on June 25, 2021, Johnson stood on Skip Bertman Field in Alex Box Stadium after being introduced as the Tigers’ new coach.
“Amazingly, we introduced him to you here and told you he would be the leader of the next generation of national champions,” Franques said. “That is exactly what he has done, and he’s just getting started.”
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