CNN
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Louisiana State University are national champions of college baseball for the second time in three years.
The Tigers defeated Coastal Carolina 5-3 on Sunday to sweep the College World Series finals.
It is LSU’s eighth title in program history, the second most in NCAA Division I history behind University of Southern California’s 12.
With the LSU fans at Charles Schwab Field on Omaha, Nebraska, chanting the school’s name, pitcher Chase Shores worked his way out of jam following a lead-off single by Ty Dooley by getting Wells Sykes to ground into a game-ending double play.
Tigers players jumped out of the dugout and rushed the pitching mound, where a celebratory dogpile ensued.
LSU pitcher Kade Anderson was named the tournament’s most outstanding player, leading the Tigers with a 2-0 record along with a 0.56 ERA in two appearance in the MCWS.
The sophomore, along with Game 2’s starter Anthony Eyanson, expressed their school pride to the ABC broadcast after the game.
“This is the place to be now,” Eyanson said. “C’mon now.”
With Anderson adding, “LSU is used to this by now. It’s number eight, I am sure next year will be number nine but just looking forward to celebrating this one with the boys and just super proud of everyone that made this happen.”
Tigers coach Jay Johnson became the fastest head coach in college baseball history to win multiple national titles at a school, with two titles in his first four years.
The Chanticleers came into the championship series on a 26-game unbeaten streak and starting pitcher Jacob Morrison played a vital role in the program’s success.
Despite the unfamiliar feeling of a Game 1 loss on Saturday, the team turned to the Sun Belt Player of the Year with the season and title hopes on the line a day later.
The sophomore ace struggled, pitching 3.2 innings while allowing five earned runs on six hits. Morrison came into the championship series game with a 12-0 record, 2.08 ERA along with 102 strikeouts.
After the Chanticleers took an early lead, LSU tied it at 1-1 in the third on Ethan Frey’s RBI double and went up 5-1 in the fourth and never looked back.
LSU starting pitcher Eyanson was faced with the tough task of facing the Coastal squad, and the junior right-hander was up for the challenge, striking out nine batters in 6.1 innings while limiting Coastal to three runs.
Coastal Carolina are no strangers to success in June, after winning the national title in 2016, The Chanticleers were trying to become the first team since 1962 and the fifth all-time to win the championship in its first two CWS appearances, according to the Associated Press.
Fiery start to Game 2
Facing a 1-0 series deficit coming into Sunday’s game, first year head coach Kevin Schnall along with first base coach Matt Schilling got a rude awakening in the bottom of the first inning.
Both were ejected after the broadcast appeared to show Schnall coming out of the dugout to argue with the home plate umpire Angel Campos.
The NCAA said in a statement to CNN that Schnall was arguing balls and strikes, was given a warning and was thrown out when he did not leave immediately. Schilling was tossed for comments he made as the confrontation with umpires continued near the plate.
Associate head coach Chad Oxendine took over managerial duties for the rest of the game.
After the game, Schnall was critical of the umpiring crew, saying they shouldn’t have been so quick to eject him in a game of this magnitude.
“As an umpire, I feel like it’s your job to manage the game, the national championship game with some poise, some tolerance and a little bit of calmness,” Schnall told reporters.
As the heated first-inning exchange went on, another umpire fell and indicated to Schnall that he would be suspended for bumping into him, which the coach denied.
“If that warrants an ejection, I am the first one to stand here like a man and apologize,” an emotional Schnall said. “Two words that define our program are ‘own it’ and what does that mean is that you have to own everything that you do. Without blame, without defending yourself. Without excuses.
“There was a guy who came in extremely aggressively, tripped over Campos’ foot. Embarrassed in front of 25,000, immediately goes ‘2-game suspension,’ and said ‘bumping the umpire.’ … There was no bump. He was embarrassed. I shouldn’t be held accountable for a grown man’s athleticism.”
The NCAA added that “prolonged arguing” results in a two-game suspension, meaning Schnall would miss the first two games of the 2026 season. Schilling would miss the first three games of next season.
“I’m not sorry for what happened,” Schnall said. “I’m sorry for this being over. I’m sorry for how it ended.”