The phrase was used all season long.
“This team is special.”
Well, the LSU Tigers baseball team proved that to be true on the biggest stage, capturing the program’s seventh national title in program history with an 18-4 rout of Florida in the winner-take-all game.
The offensive onslaught from the Tigers in Game 3 comes a day after Florida set a College World Series record with 24 runs scored in a single game when they took down LSU 24-4 to even the championship series.
The Tigers set a new CWS record with 24 base hits in the win, breaking the record of 23 set the day before by Florida. LSU scored three or more runs in four different innings Monday night, including a six spot in the second inning.
Thatcher Hurd was incredible as the starting pitcher for the Tigers, pitching six innings with only two runs on two hits with seven strikeouts. The UCLA transfer was an integral part of this championship run with his dominant postseason.
“The talent really speaks for itself,” Hurd said. “But the leadership and the chemistry in the clubhouse, I’ll forever cherish that. And that’s the blueprint for a winning team, the things — Cade Beloso, Gavin Dugas, Hayden Travinski, the veteran leaders were able to do it for us.”
“That type of leadership is really special, and I’ll cherish that. And I’ve grown so much by playing with these three, playing for Coach, and Paul, and the list goes on. It’s just really special.”
The win gives LSU their seventh national championship, second-most all-time in college baseball behind USC with 12.
“I don’t know where to start,” Jay Johnson said. “I’ll do the best I can with this. The national championship team, I think the most gratifying part of it is they were national championship people every single day of this thing. And kind of feels like a two-year win, if that makes sense.”
Johnson has stated on multiple occasions that one of the driving factors behind taking the job was being able to coach Dylan Crews, the 2023 Golden Spikes winner and a Top 2 pick in this year’s MLB Draft. For Crews, this title checks the final box.
“Man, it’s such a great feeling,” Crews said following the win. “I feel like almost every box was checked off except that national championship box. And we all knew this was going to be our last game here. And to finally say that I’m a national champion, it’s the greatest feeling in the world. And I feel all boxes are checked off now. So it’s good.”
LSU has many great stories like Crews, but there may be none better than Cade Beloso.
Beloso is a Louisiana native who idolized former Tiger baseball players, wanting to wear the Purple & Gold himself one day. He realized that dream, only to suffer a devastating injury during his fourth season with the program.
Beloso struggled with the idea of coming back for his fifth and final year, but he came back and had a stellar CWS, going 10-24 at the plate and coming up with clutch homers in multiple games during the run.
Now, he can say he’s a national champion, just like the 2009 team he looked up to. Maybe today’s younger generation would even look up to him.
“That’s pretty cool,” Beloso said postgame. “I’d want to be like this guy to the left of me, these two guys. But set a goal and achieve it. We have a saying around here, don’t dream because if you dream about it it seems unreachable. But set a goal and reach it. And the sky’s the limit.”
“It feels good to be Mikie Mahtook, Jared Mitchell, Ryan Schimpf, and Sean Ochinko now. That’s something that no one can take away from us, being national champions.”
LSU will have to deal with the task of replacing Paul Skenes, Dylan Crews, Tre Morgan, Cade Beloso, Gavin Dugas, and others, but for now, they can enjoy being national champions.