Make it #7 for LSU Baseball

In a College World Series filled with exciting one-run games and extra inning thrillers, the LSU Tigers and Florida Gators reversed the script in Games 2 and 3 of the championship series. LSU took Game 1 in Omaha with a nerve-wracking 11 inning 4-3 victory over Florida.  For LSU, it was their second straight 11 inning win after taking down #1 national seed Wake Forest 2-0 two days earlier to move into the best-of-three championship series against SEC rival Florida. The tight game script was then summarily tossed out the window for the final two games in this year’s College World Series.  The first 14 games played in Omaha had seen the winning team score no more than six runs.  That streak came to an end during the final two games of the 2023 college baseball season. The two SEC teams unleashed their offensive fury on one another during Games 2 and 3.  On Sunday, Florida tied the series at one game apiece with a dominating 24-4 thrashing of the Tigers.  The Gators racked-up 23 hits and six home runs, while LSU gifted a season-high five fielding errors in the rout. LSU and its purple and gold-clad fans were shocked and silenced on Sunday afternoon at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.  Fortunately for the Tigers, there was still a third and final game to be played in the College World Series on Monday night. In the first inning of Game 3, Florida looked like they were going to keep the rout going for a second straight game.  In the bottom of the first in this series finale Monday night, Gators centerfielder Will Langford blasted a 2-run homer to spot the Gators to a 2-0 lead.  The LSU faithful had to wonder if their pitchers were going to get blasted for a second straight game. Tigers starting pitcher Thatcher Hurd (8-3 on the season) regrouped and kept the Gators in check for six innings on Monday.  In the top of the second inning, LSU’s bats finally arrived at the stadium in Omaha as the Tigers responded with six runs of their own.  Thousands of LSU fans erupted in glee as their team finally broke out of their Omaha hitting slump.   The Tigers then added four more runs in the fourth inning to make the game 10-2 at the halfway point. From there, LSU added another eight runs over the final three innings to tally 18 runs for the game.  The final score was LSU 18, Florida 4.  It had taken the Bayou Bengals five games to tally that many runs prior to Monday night’s championship game. In winning, LSU claimed its seventh college baseball championship and now only trails USC (12) for the top spot.  It was the first College Baseball title for LSU since 2009.  LSU’s baseball stadium will now get a much desired update to their right field scoreboard (affectionately cal