The College World Series opens Friday, a seemingly diminished edition of college baseball’s version of the midsummer classic since the LSU Tigers aren’t there, at least from a local perspective.
Truth to tell, LSU doesn’t make the trip to Omaha every year. It just seems like it. The Tigers have made the CWS 20 times since their first trip in 1986, a pretty fair every-other-year-on-average batting average.
Still, the absence of popping LSU mitts and pinging Tigers bats in Omaha’s emerald oasis doesn’t mean there is nothing to commemorate. There are so many amazing memories for the eight-time CWS champions over the years, it seems a shame not to take this “open date” and not savor a few. After all, the law of LSU baseball averages suggests the Tigers will be right back in Omaha in 2027.
There won’t be any time for look-backs or remember whens if that happens. So, while we have the chance, let’s look back at the top 10 LSU moments in the College World Series:
10. LSU 6, Wichita State 3
June 8, 1991: The one that started it all for LSU, but can it really be 35 years since it happened? The Tigers made four previous trips to the CWS under Skip Bertman, but this was their first appearance in the championship game. More historic than dramatic, LSU led 6-2 going to the eighth and closed it out with a scoreless ninth from reliever Rick Greene.
9. LSU 8, Wichita State 0
June 12, 1993: After the thrills of the previous day’s comeback win over Long Beach State (more on that later), the national championship game was rather anticlimactic. That is, except for the pitching performance of freshman starter Brett Laxton. He threw one of the all-time great games in CWS history, striking out 16 Shockers and allowing only three hits in a shutout.
8. LSU 5, Rice 4
May 30, 1997: The Tigers hit a record 188 home runs in 1997, perhaps none bigger than Brandon Larson’s two-run blast in the bottom of the eighth in LSU’s CWS opener. His 38th home run of the season sailed high over Rosenblatt Stadium’s scoreboard in left field, tying it 4-4, before Jeremy Witten’s ground ball scored Trey McClure with the game-winner. Chris Demouy pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the win, putting LSU on track for a repeat national championship.
7. LSU 4, Florida 3 (11 innings)
June 24, 2023: Twenty years later, Ty Floyd did Laxton one better, striking out 17 Gators over eight innings but not getting the win as the game went to extras. In the top of the 11th, Cade Beloso launched a Brandon Neely pitch into the right field stands. Riley Cooper, who pitched the final three innings, retired the Gators in order to end it. Florida would crush LSU 24-4 in Game 2 of the championship series, but the Tigers returned the favor in Game 3 18-4, avenging a loss to the Gators in the 2017 finals.
6. LSU 7, Texas 6 (11)
June 22, 2009: The Tigers trailed the Longhorns 6-4 with two outs in the top of the ninth in Game 1 of LSU’s first best-of-three CWS final before DJ LeMahieu became a legend. He lobbed a two-run double into the left-field corner, forcing extra innings. In the top of the 11th, Mikie Mahtook laced a 1-2, two-out RBI single to center, scoring LeMahieu from third. Matty Ott set Texas down 1-2-3 in the bottom half to win it. Texas, which hit five solo home runs, won 5-1 the next night, but LSU took the title 11-4 in Game 3.
5. LSU 6, Stanford 5
June 17, 2000: Stanford ace Justin Wayne was dealing for 3⅓ innings of relief up 5-2 until Blair Barbier and Jeremy Witten got to him with back-to-back homers in the eighth to tie it 5-5. After LSU reliever Trey Hodges, the CWS MVP, pitched a scoreless ninth, a Tigers’ victory seemed inevitable. Ryan Theriot led off with a single to left, then after a walk to Mike Fontenot, Brad Cresse smashed a game-winning 0-1 single to left to score Theriot from third. It was the last of LSU’s five CWS titles under Bertman, who went 5-0 in national title games.
4. LSU 6, Long Beach St. 5
June 11, 1993: LSU was on the brink of elimination, down 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth to the 49ers thanks in part to a whopping five errors. Then the comeback started. Armando Rios tied the game with a two-run double, then Todd Walker smashed a game-winning single off the first baseman to bring Rios home from third with the winning run. Long Beach was 1-17 with runners in scoring position. The Tigers won their second national title the next day against Wichita State.
3. LSU 6, Arkansas 5
June 18, 2025: Arguably the wildest finish ever to an LSU game in Omaha. The Tigers again trailed 5-3 going to the bottom of the ninth when Arkansas shortstop Wehiwa Aloy inexplicably threw to third to force out Derek Curiel instead of starting a double play on Steven Milam. Soon after, Luis Hernandez hit a game-tying double off the shoulder of stumbling Razorbacks left fielder Charles Davalan, followed by Jared Jones’ game-winning single off the top of Omaha native Cam Kozeal’s glove at second.
2. LSU 2, Wake Forest 0
June 22, 2023: Tommy White drove in 102 runs in 2023, none bigger than Nos. 99 and 100 in this 24-karat thriller of a game that propelled the Tigers into the CWS championship series against Florida. This “final four” matchup had it all, with stellar shutout performances by starting pitchers Paul Skenes (8 innings) and Wake’s Rhett Lowder (7), plus an unbelievable shovel toss for an out at home plate by LSU first baseman Tre Morgan.
1. LSU 9, Miami 8
June 8, 1996: This is the proverbial no-brainer choice as LSU’s top moment, especially since this year marks the 30th anniversary of Warren Morris’ legendary two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth. It wasn’t just that remarkable blast — hit by a man who’d missed most of the season with a broken hamate bone — but the game was epic as well. LSU rallied from two-run deficits in the first and fifth and from down 7-3 in the sixth before the one final rally in the ninth. No player before or since has won a CWS title with a walk-off home run.
