OMAHA, Neb. — The best pitcher in college baseball paced through a tucked-away batting cage, going through his typical warmup routine in the cutoff purple shirt he always wears. Paul Skenes lurked there underneath Charles Schwab Field. An ESPN camera tracked his every move until someone covered the lens.
Skenes could have appeared in relief in Game 3 of the College World Series finals, but LSU never needed him in an 18-4 win Monday. The Tigers would not have won their seventh national championship without Skenes this season. But they beat Florida in the three-game series without their ace ever throwing a pitch.
This was a total team effort, a combination of homegrown stars and transfers coming together to capture the program’s first title since 2009.
“Right people,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “Right place. Right time.”
LSU had Dylan Crews and Skenes, a pair of top draft picks next month who dominated college baseball together. But they also had Tommy White and Tre’ Morgan and Cade Beloso and Gavin Dugas and so many others who delivered in clutch moments.
The day after suffering the most lopsided loss in College World Series finals history, the Tigers set a CWS record with 24 hits in one game. Thatcher Hurd pitched five scoreless innings after allowing a home run in the first. Skenes went to the bullpen, stalking, while LSU scored so many runs that he came back to watch the last outs from the dugout.
Back in January, a week before preseason practice began, LSU held a team meeting to set the tone for this season. After losing the Hattiesburg regional in his first year as coach, Johnson had mined the transfer portal to add Skenes and White, creating a modern superteam that expected to be here in Omaha.
The players said they wanted to win a title.
“The goal for this season was to win a national championship,” Skenes said before the finals. “And everything along the way would be a bonus. This was what we’ve had our eyes on all year.”
It would have been one thing to set the goal — the same one LSU’s storied program sets every year. Previous teams did plenty of times over the past decade. The Tigers had enough talent in 2013, ’15 and ’17, when they came here and fell short.
But this one accomplished the goal, able to manage the weight of expectations and execute. The Tigers were ranked No. 1 for 12 straight weeks. Then they hit a rough patch in May. The skid put them into the same side of the bracket as Wake Forest, the No. 1 overall seed. But they got back on track at the right time.
After losing to Wake Forest earlier in the CWS, LSU advanced through the losers bracket, ultimately playing eight games in 10 days to win the title. Two games went to extra innings. And LSU won it all.
When they talk about this team years from now across Louisiana, they may remember the stars first. Crews and Skenes. White and Morgan. But they will also remember the other ones who were so important. Dugas and Beloso. Riley Cooper and Hurd. Ty Floyd and Nate Ackenhausen. Jordan Thompson and Alex Milazzo and so many others.
Once Guidry recorded the final out, the players rushed across the field, forming a dogpile past the mound. They had done this together.
For years, LSU looked at the Intimidator past right field inside Alex Box Stadium and talked about adding another number to the billboard. Multiple teams had come up short. This one met the expectations, and now “2023” can go on the sign.
“I can’t wait,” Crews said, “to put another flag back at the field.”
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