Warren Morris And The 1996 National Champion Tigers Honored Saturday At Doubleheader

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

If there is a modern day Jimmy Stewart, it is Warren Morris, a heroic man with small town values and a quiet, humble demeanor.

And not one to usually rub a home run he just hit into an opponent’s face by flipping the bat or showboating around the bases.

Even though the mild-mannered Morris, a native of Alexandria who is a vice president at Red River Bank there, did hit the most famous home run in college baseball history and one of the more well known in the history of baseball period, for that matter, 30 years ago this June 8.

Morris, a junior second baseball for LSU, hit the ultimate walk-off – a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to beat Miami, 9-8, that Saturday afternoon, giving the Tigers the national championship – their third in six years – at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.

Thirty Years Later, I Still See Warren Morris’ Baseball Flying Past Me

And Morris did it as the ninth batter in the lineup as he was still recovering from surgery on the hamate bone in his right wrist several weeks before and only returned to play during NCAA Regional play after several weeks out. And all he could do was bunt or half swing as his wrist was not fully healed.

But on the morning of June 8 after batting practice, he told LSU coach Skip Bertman he felt as close to 100 percent since having the surgery. It was also his first and last home run of the season after hitting eight in 1995 when healthy. That and other details are expertly written by Morris himself as he did the foreward to the book, “Everything Matters In Baseball – The Skip Bertman Story.”

New book sheds light on how Skip Bertman won five College World Series championships at LSU

And when Morris, a left-hander, swung at the first pitch from stud Miami All-American right-handed reliever Robbie Morrison (4-1, 1.11 ERA, 14 saves, 86 strikeouts, 57 innings) and drove it to right field, he was only thinking – double.

“A home run was the last thing on my mind,” Morris said Tuesday on Tiger Rag Radio as LSU prepared to honor the 1996 team before Saturday’s doubleheader with South Carolina as part of a 30-year reunion weekend. The interview with Morris appears below:

“Even when the ball took off my bat, I knew I hit it pretty well, but I was running hard to try to get to second base,” Morris said. “Until I saw it inch over that wall in right field. And first base coach Daniel Tomlin jumped higher than I’ve ever seen him. Then I touched first base, and I saw all the Miami players on the ground.”

As he touched second, “I saw Alex Cora right there at shortstop face down in the grass,” Morris said. “That’s when it really registered – we just won this whole thing.”

And he raised his right arm high in a worthy show of celebration.

“Yeah, I’m not into losing a bunch of games. I’m not into not going well.” … Jay Johnson. https://t.co/tZX9JtHpsU

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) May 2, 2026

“Then getting to home plate and all the teammates there waiting on you and somehow getting off the bottom of that pile – just an unbelievable feeling,” Morris said. “But no, I was as shocked as anyone definitely. It was my first home run of the year. It happened so fast. It was just cool for someone who had to watch and cheer on from being injured most of the year. And to be able to be that exclamation mark on that championship was special.”

He’s being humble again, and he’s no actor. Morris’ home run is the exclamation point on the LSU Baseball dynasty that has produced eight national championships – five by Bertman from 1991-2000, one by Paul Mainieri in 2009 and two by current coach Jay Johnson in 2023 and ’25.

“To me that is THE team from LSU,” Johnson said before Saturday’s doubleheader. “I don’t know if it was the best of all these championship teams here. But when you think about LSU, you think about 1996, walk-off homer, great players on that team – Eddy Furniss – what a crew that was. It’s awesome to be here today with them getting honored. It’s hard to believe that 30 years has gone by since that. But I hope the crowd will give them the loudest ovation, because they definitely earned it.”

THE WARREN MORRIS STATUE IN OMAHA

And it remains the exclamation point of the sport of college baseball as a whole as a statue depicting the moment stands in front of Charles Schwab Field, home of the College World Series in Omaha since 2011. There is no mention of Morris or LSU on the statue, but there doesn’t need to be.

“It doesn’t seem like 30 years, that’s for sure,” Morris, now 52 who played Major League Baseball from 1999-2003 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers, said. “The memories are still fresh.”