SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Gotcha! Got the first in extra time, swamped in the second by a Gator attack, and got revenge in No. 3 via a resounding roar of the Tigers.
Yes, Louisiana State becomes No. 1 and the champion of the 2023 NCAA Division I College Baseball World Series. It had come into this 66th annual best-of-3 series as No. 5 and leaves with a final record of 54-17.
And just like that, coincidentally, the two wind up sporting identical marks, but the finale, not a tie-breaker, goes to the guys from Baton Rouge at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb.
They extra-inning ed Game 1, winning 4-3 on a solo home run in the 11th frame. From there, oops. the Gators crushed them 24-4 to bring on the deciding Game 3, a third-straight sell-out.
And LSU did more than that for its usual turnout, it pieced together an 18-4 hit parade to gain its seventh World Series, and kept Florida still seeking number two.
Said Tigers’ star centerfielder Dylan Crews, announced as the Amateur Athlete of the Year:
“We got punched in the mouth yesterday, and that’s the beauty of baseball at about any level, but we woke up this morning and made up our minds that this would be out day, and you saw how we responded.”
It was the Gators that went up 2-0 on Wyatt Longford’s second inning shot down the line in left field. But from there, the LSU hurlers no hits or runs while retiring 18 of the next 21 batters.
And from the plate, the Tiger bats were right there to pile up hits, walks and even hit batters. It became, well, similar to the day before. One rout there, one rout here.
Gators starter Jac Caglainone didn’t last long, the sophomore righthander who leads the country in home runs with 33, was unable to register control. He barely went three innings, gave up three runs, allowed three hits, walked two, and also committed an error.
LSU avoided using its star righthanded pitcher Paul Skenes after he pitched 15 and two-third innings in his two CWS starts, and he was also announced as Most Valuable Player of the World Series. This was the overwhelmingly partisan Tigers’ crowd showing its appreciation not long after Crews’ award was shown on the video board.
But instead of Skenes, the champions went with righty Thatcher Hurd for eight innings and southpaw Gavin Guidry, related to former New York Yankee pitcher Ron Guidry, finished up the combined four-hitter with a strikeout.
