Tigers on top: LSU now wears the crown as college baseball's premier program

OMAHA, Neb. -- On a hairsbreadth dryer of a Sunday day successful the municipality that each June becomes de facto Baton Rouge North, the LSU Tigers didn't simply triumph a Men's College World Series nationalist championship. Nor was it simply their eighth overall.

The rubric they truly won was that of Greatest Ever College Baseball Program.

"I don't deliberation there's anyone present that's going to reason with you connected that," said designated hitter Ethan Frey, from Rosepine, Louisiana, pointing to the 24,734 decidedly Cajun fans arsenic they sang aloud to Garth Brooks's "Callin' Baton Rouge." "What I cognize is that erstwhile we spell to enactment each day, we bash it trying to marque the Tigers that came earlier america proud. Hopefully we have. They built it. We physique connected that."

The gathering wherever they bash that work, Alex Box Stadium, is draped successful trophies and artifacts that are each grounds for their best-ever argument. All implicit the gathering wherever they did their enactment connected Sunday, Charles Schwab Field, it is easier to find LSU photos and logos commemorating truthful galore Tiger moments successful Omaha than it is to find a blistery dog.

"This metropolis feels similar location to us," said erstwhile LSU manager Skip Bertman, sitting successful a wheelchair connected the field, confetti scattered implicit his shoulders arsenic helium shook hands with the squad arsenic they came disconnected the signifier wherever they had conscionable received their trophies. He is the antheral who pulled LSU shot retired of the swamp of irrelevance successful the 1980s. "When we travel here, we bring a batch of folks from home, but determination are besides truthful galore radical who unrecorded present that deterioration our colors due to the fact that they grew up watching america play during truthful galore summers. That's special."

LSU does not ain the grounds for astir nationalist title rings. That belongs to USC. But nary of the Trojans' twelve championships person travel during this century. Their past triumph was successful 1998, and that was their archetypal successful 20 years. No 1 volition ever replicate what caput manager Rod Dedeaux's teams did, winning 7 of their titles during a 10-year span from 1968-78. But Bertman's teams won 5 successful 10 years, betwixt 1991-2000. Now existent caput manager Jay Johnson, who has said the champion portion of the occupation is his relationship with Bertman, has won 2 successful 3 seasons.

LSU hasn't won the astir MCWS games. That people is owned by Texas, with 88 to LSU's 47, which ranks 5th all-time. But the Horns hooked the past of their six nationalist titles a afloat 2 decades ago, and their past finals quality was successful 2009. Today's Texas programme is precise good. LSU's is great.

The Tigers ain nary of the Omaha longevity records, specified arsenic that all-time triumph full oregon appearances made (20, ranked fifth). As the innings coiled down connected Sunday, the purple and golden assemblage that crammed into the shadiness of the Charles Schwab Field concourse stood beneath a bid of monolithic partition plaques commemorating the teams who person participated successful and won each MCWS played successful Omaha, opening successful 1950, that enactment the full cavernous hallway. The listings, 5 years astatine a time, statesman down the archetypal basal enactment and proceed each the mode astir to third. Not until past the halfway constituent bash you spot the archetypal LSU logo. And that's what makes their unparalleled tally of assemblage shot occurrence so, well, unparalleled.

USC made its archetypal quality successful 1948, and Texas made its debut 1 twelvemonth later, participants successful the past 2 Series played earlier the lawsuit was moved to Omaha. They person compiled their prodigious numbers implicit the span of 75-plus summers. LSU didn't clang the enactment until 1986. It won its archetypal rubric 5 years later.

So, each that the Tigers person accomplished has taken spot implicit the lengthy yet comparatively compressed play of time. And that makes their résumé each that much impressive.

Those 20 Omaha visits, those 8 nationalist titles, that 8-1 grounds successful MCWS finals, those 47 MCWS wins, person each happened implicit the span of 40 years, which person besides happened to beryllium the astir tumultuous, shift-changing, impossible-to-predict decades erstwhile it comes to doing concern successful immoderate collegiate sport, but particularly assemblage baseball.

And we haven't yet mentioned the league tourney and regular play league titles -- 12 of each -- won successful the shot conflict royale that is the SEC, a Frankenstein created a laboratory that LSU helped construct. Oh, and did we archer you that it has been led to Omaha by 4 antithetic coaches, 3 of whom won nationalist titles.

"I deliberation that adaptability is underrated arsenic a cardinal to agelong word success, and frankly, erstwhile you person had success, it is truthful overmuch harder to person yourself to marque changes arsenic you go," said Ben McDonald, the program's archetypal genuinely transcendent superstar. The righty led the Tigers to 2 of their earliest Omaha appearances, and successful the midst of the 2nd sojourn was drafted archetypal wide by the Baltimore Orioles. The adjacent was 2023 Men's College World Series leader hurler Paul Skenes. "You're thinking, 'Why would we alteration what we are doing? What we've been doing is working!' But Jay is the cleanable illustration of a feline who understands however the crippled works now. How the transportation portal works. How to manager kids of this generation. Just similar Skip did."

There person been challenges. When Bertman retired and became full-time diversion manager successful 2001, helium chose longtime adjunct Smoke Laval arsenic his successor. Laval got the squad backmost to Omaha twice, but ne'er won a rubric and failed to marque the NCAA tourney field. Bertman inactive says that dismissing his person was the astir hard clip of his career. Paul Mainieri made the programme an Omaha regular again and won the 2009 nationalist championship, but his epoch ended with a polite but hard departure. Johnson, who has been a Division I assemblage caput manager since 2014, has deftly navigated the spaghetti heap of roster operation that is the transportation portal/NIL age.

After winning the 2023 MCWS, LSU mislaid 13 players to pro baseball, an SEC record. Last twelvemonth determination were 8 LSU pitchers drafted. It started this play with a mostly caller roster, and it took a portion to gel, going 19-11 successful league play. It's mostly forgotten now, but it spent the archetypal circular of this NCAA tourney successful a wrestling lucifer with determination four-seed Little Rock.

But erstwhile it clicked, it clicked. And LSU won the nationalist rubric by going 2-0 against a Coastal Carolina squad that had won 26 successful a row. The aforesaid squad that abruptly chopped LSU's longtime four-run pb to lone 2 successful the closing frames of Sunday's contest, adjacent aft the Chanticleers had mislaid their caput manager to a archetypal inning ejection.

"They had to marque america sweat a small bit, didn't they?" Bertman, 87, said with a laugh. "But successful the end, they added to the legacy. And it definite feels similar Jay has them successful a presumption to support adding to it for a portion to come."

Everything they bash present is conscionable much icing connected the King Cake. College baseball's kings. A crown that present feels indisputable.