OMAHA, Nebraska – Before everyone starts planning their LSU College World Series national championship party for next week, the winds could change quickly.
LSU’s WIN OVER ARKANSAS LOOKED BREEZY
The Tigers may have cut off the head of the king snake of the CWS field Saturday night in slaying No. 3 seed Arkansas, 4-1. But there are still snakes on LSU’s plane, so to speak, going into game two on Monday night against UCLA (6 p.m., ESPN)
LSU (49-15) can move to 2-0 here for the first time since winning it all in 2009 with a win over No. 15 seed UCLA (48-16), which is no Arkansas. But the Bruins did share the Big Ten title this season with Oregon at 22-8 and went into the postseason at No. 15 in RPI.
Statistically, this is not a team that will scare LSU or its confident fan base. UCLA has hit just 79 home runs for 55th nationally and is 55th in batting average as well at .298. But just like the Bruins team that suffocated LSU’s big bats, 2-1, in a 2013 CWS opener and went on to win the national title with a .249 batting average, this team can pitch.
UCLA is No. 24 in the nation in ERA at 4.41, which isn’t bad. Sophomore right-hander Landon Stump (6-1, 4.54 ERA, 62 strikeouts, 73 and a third innings) will start against LSU junior right-hander Anthony Eyanson (11-2, 2.74 ERA), who is third in the nation in strikeouts with 142 in 98 and two-thirds innings, tonight.
The Bruins are better than anyone LSU has played since the Southeastern Conference regular season. John Savage has been their coach since 2005 with a runner-up CWS finish in 2010 with ace Gerrit Cole, who finished 11-4, and another appearance in 2012. But UCLA is back in Omaha for the first time since the ’13 national title.
KADE ANDERSON DOMINATED ARKANSAS
LSU should win, but perhaps not if it strikes out 16 times as it did Saturday. The odds are against it. The Tigers made the most of a meager six hits to beat Arkansas, but they’re playing with snake eyes.
“Offensively, we did just enough,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said.
That’s not going to work all week here, though. Maybe Monday night again, but maybe not in a rematch or rematches with Arkansas, or with Coastal Carolina in a potential championship series. That’s the Monticleers’ game. They entered the CWS No. 2 in the nation in ERA at 3.21 and just won their 25th in a row on Sunday night, 6-2, over Oregon State after beating Arizona, 7-4, on Friday.
LSU has scored four or fewer runs in four of its last nine games. It won two of those, but that’s tempting fate. So is striking out 16 times, including five by No. 3 hitter Jared Jones on Saturday in the No. 3 spot in the order. Four other players fanned multiple times – Michael Braswell with three as his averaged dipped to .197, and Josh Pearson, Steven Milam and Chris Stanfield twice.
The growing Legend of Kade Anderson and Legacy of LSU. Column;https://t.co/1TvjqeExwn
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) June 15, 2025
“I’ve seen it before here,” Johnson said defensively. “If there’s a pitching staff that is capable of doing that to our team it’s the one we just faced. Gabe Gaeckle (who struck out 10) is one of the best pitchers in the country.”
Arkansas lefty reliever Cole Gibler struck out three in one inning.
“He’s a lefty specialist,” Johnson said. “That’s that. Proud of my team for fighting our way to win.”
But that’s not completely that. It would help LSU if Murray State eliminated Arkansas in the 1 p.m. game Monday.
And Jones was taking extra batting practice at the end of the Tigers’ workout Sunday at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He leads the team with 79 strikeouts – 30 more than the next guy. But power hitters strike out often, and he does have a team-high 20 home runs and 70 RBIs with the team’s No. 3 batting average at .322. Still, he has only one home run in his last nine games.
“It’s no different,” Johnson said on the defensive again. “He’s had a great season.”
Johnson has had to resort to more small ball than normal of late, and he has always said this team is built to win every type of game. That is important at the pitcher-friendly Charles Schwab Field.
“It was just enough, and that’s okay,” he said of his team’s offense on Saturday.
That’s UCLA’s game, too.
If not Jones, LSU needs more out of designated hitter Ethan Frey, or both. Frey has cooled in LSU’s last three games. He is 0-for-13 at No. 2 or 3 in the order after going 4-for-4 with four RBIs and his 13th home run in the win over Little Rock in the NCAA Regional title game.
The winds can change in a moment in Omaha. Ask LSU’s 1998 team. Those Tigers won their first two CWS games, 12-10 and 10-8 over USC and Mississippi State, then USC quieted their bats minus the wind gusts for 5-4 and 7-3 wins, and they were gone.
First and foremost, LSU needs to change the wind gusts coming off their bats on all those whiffs.
Or there may be a Jell-O surplus in Omaha before you know it, no matter how good all the pitching is.
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