By ERIC OLSON AP Sports Writer
OMAHA, Neb. — Coming out of last season, LSU coach Jay Johnson couldn’t have foreseen the national championship this group of tenacious Tigers is taking back to Baton Rouge.
“It was probably a year ago today,” he said, “we had 12 players in our program that actually played on the field for us in 2024. Twelve.”
Then, quoting his mentor and LSU baseball patriarch Skip Bertman, Johnson said: “We ended up with some really good fortune.”
LSU knocked previously unbeaten Coastal Carolina ace Jacob Morrison out of the game with a four-run fourth inning and the Tigers won their second national title in three years on Sunday with a 5-3 victory in the College World Series finals.
The Tigers (53-15) completed a two-game sweep of the Chanticleers (56-13), who entered the finals on a 26-game win streak and on Sunday saw coach Kevin Schnall and first base coach Matt Schilling ejected in the bottom of the first inning.
LSU gave the Southeastern Conference its sixth straight national title in baseball and 11th in 16 years. It was LSU’s eighth, all since 1991 and second most all-time behind USC’s 12.
Johnson became the first Division I coach to win two titles in his first four years at a school. No other coach had accomplished that feat in fewer than eight seasons.
“It’s not to be taken for granted, being here two years ago,” Johnson said. “That was special. Greatest night of my life. This is equal and maybe even tops in some ways.”
The 2023 team was led by Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews, the top two picks in the MLB amateur draft that year, and slugger Tommy White. It was built to win a championship.
The good fortune Johnson referred to was mixing those 12 returning players from last season with a talented freshman class that mostly showed up intact after the draft and was rated No. 1 in college baseball, along with 10 transfers – including three ranked in the top 10 in the portal rankings. The team coalesced quickly.
“We went through probably the hardest schedule in college baseball and we had one hiccup – one. A little speed bump at Auburn,” Johnson said, referring to being swept in a three-game series in April. “But other than that, they dominated the season and they dominated the schedule.”
Coastal Carolina won the national title in 2016 and was trying to become the first team since 1962 (Michigan) and the fifth all-time to win the championship in its first two CWS appearances. The Chanticleers hadn’t lost consecutive games since dropping two in a row at Troy on March 22 and 23.
“To get us just back to Omaha after what we did in 2016, and then to come to Omaha and play the way we did and get us back to the World Series finals is really incredible,” Schnall said. “These two games won’t define what this team was.”
With five-time champion coach Bertman watching from the stands, LSU tied it at 1-1 in the third on Ethan Frey’s RBI double and went up 5-1 in the fourth on two-run singles by Chris Stanfield and Derek Curiel.
Coastal Carolina pulled within 5-3 in the seventh against LSU starter Anthony Eyanson when No. 9 batter Wells Sykes hit his fourth homer of the season.
That brought on Chase Shores for his fourth appearance of the CWS. The 6-foot-8 right-hander touched 100 mph with his fastball while retiring the first five batters he faced before Dean Mihos, who homered in the second, singled through the right side leading off the ninth.
With Tigers fans on their feet and chanting “L-S-U, L-S-U,” Shores struck out Ty Dooley and got Sykes to ground into a game-ending double play. The Tigers’ dugout emptied and the celebratory dogpile behind the mound ensued, and the players then walked around the warning track in a line high-fiving fans leaning over the wall.
The 87-year-old Bertman came onto the field in a wheelchair and walked with assistance to have pictures taken with coaches and players.
The Chanticleers had won 15 straight when Morrison (12-1) started. Morrison’s 3⅔ innings marked his shortest start of the season and the five runs against him were the most he has allowed.
LSU entered having won 13 games in a row in which one of its top two pitchers – Kade Anderson and Eyanson – started.
Anderson, one of those 12 holdovers, was selected the Most Outstanding Player of the CWS after allowing one run and six hits and striking out 17 in 16 innings over two starts in Omaha.
Anderson threw a three-hit shutout in LSU’s 1-0 win in Game 1 of the finals, and Eyanson (12-2) was mostly sharp over his 6⅓ innings. The three runs against him came on seven hits and a walk. He struck out nine.
“I remember hugging my parents right now with the natty hat and shirt on,” said Eyanson, a UC San Diego transfer. “Even on my (recruiting) visit, looking at all the history on the wall, this is what I dreamed literally – throwing pitches, starting the final game of the national championship.”
Schnall, in his first year as head coach after taking over for the retired Gary Gilmore, had not been ejected this season before Sunday.
Walker Mitchell was at bat with two outs and Sebastian Alexander had just stolen second base when Schnall went to the top steps of the dugout, gestured at plate umpire Angel Campos with three fingers and began shouting at him.
The NCAA said Schnall was arguing balls and strikes, was given a warning and thrown out when he did not leave immediately. Schilling was tossed for comments he made as the confrontation with umpires continued near the plate.
“And that’s why I feel a little gutted right now,” Schnall said, “because the talk is going to be about the ejection, not this team. And it’s not right. The front-row seat should be the 2025 Coastal Carolina baseball team, not what happened in the first inning.”
SCHNALL SAYS EJECTION WAS UNWARRANTED
Schnall said his ejection wasn’t justified and he was wrongly accused of bumping an umpire.
When Schnall was arguing with Campos, one of the base umpires ran toward the confrontation and fell on his back.
“If you guys watch the video, there was a guy who came in extremely aggressively, tripped over Campos’ foot, embarrassed in front of 25,000, and goes ‘two-game suspension’ and says ‘bumping the umpire,’” Schnall said. “There was no bump. I shouldn’t be held accountable for a grown man’s athleticism. Now it’s excessive because I was trying to say I didn’t bump him.
“It is what it is. If that warranted an ejection, there would be a lot of ejections. As umpires, it’s your job to manage the game with some poise and calmness and a little bit of tolerance.”
A spokesman said the NCAA stands by its original statement on the incident when asked for comment on Schnall’s remarks about bumping an umpire.
The NCAA in its initial statement on the incident said Schnall and Schilling engaged in “prolonged arguing,” which is to result in a two-game suspension. Schnall would miss the first two games of the 2026 season.
Schilling was thrown out for the comments he made while arguing, the NCAA said. If an assistant is ejected, he automatically also is suspended for one game. Schilling also got an additional two-game suspension under the “prolonged arguing” rule, the NCAA said. That means he will miss the first three games next year.
Associate head coach Chad Oxendine took over Schnall’s duties.
Schnall said he couldn’t hear Campos’ initial warning when he was arguing balls and strikes from the dugout.
“As a head coach, it’s your right to get an explanation for why we got warned,” Schnall said. “I’m 48 years old and I shouldn’t get shooed by another grown man. When I came out, I got told it was a warning issued for arguing balls and strikes, and I said it was because you missed three. At that point, ejected. If that warrants an ejection, I’m the first one to stand here like a man and apologize.”
That wasn’t going to happen.
“I’m not sorry for what happened,” he said. “I’m sorry for this being over. I’m sorry for how it ended.”
In a statement posted Sunday night on Coastal Carolina athletic director Chance Miller’s X account, the school said the ejections “altered the trajectory of a must-win game for our team.”
“These decisions were made with an alarming level of haste, without an attempt at de-escalation, and deprived our student-athletes of the leadership they have relied on throughout a historic postseason run.
“This is not about a single call – it’s about process and professionalism. In the biggest moment of the college baseball season, our program and its student-athletes deserved better.”
The statement also urged the NCAA to re-evaluate how it trains, assigns and reviews umpires in championship settings.
