By Phil Stanton
CBI Co-Founder/Editor
OMAHA, Neb. – One swing of the bat ended the marathon.
Tommy White belted a homer to left in the bottom of the 11th as No. 5 LSU edged No. 1 Wake Forest 2-0 in the 2023 College World Series.
“It’s one of the greatest moments of my life,” LSU head coach Jay Johnson said, “honestly, Number 1. The best pitched college baseball game I’ve ever seen from both sides.”
The Tigers (52-16) advanced to face No. 2 Florida in the best-of-three championship series beginning on Saturday, June 24 at 6 p.m. CT.
The Demon Deacons ended their season at 54-12.
Dylan Crews started the bottom of the 11th with a single through the left side off Michael Massey. WFU went to the bullpen and brought in Camden Minacci. White deposited Minacci’s first pitch into the bullpen in left, his 23rd home run of the season, to start the celebration for LSU.
“I was definitely going for a heater,” White said. “I thought a heater was coming. But I was very amped up and I saw a slider that was up. And I put my bat head to it.”
Pitching dominated the first 10 innings. Paul Skenes went eight innings for the Tigers with two hits, one walk and nine strikeouts.
“It was a funnel of pitchers that were going to be available today,” Johnson said. “And we wanted to get Paul as long as we could. I’m really proud of him for getting us through eight. I think it took that to win the game.”
Thatcher Hurd (7-3) pitched the final three frames for LSU with one hit, one walk and one strikeout to record the win.
Rhett Lowder hurled seven innings for the Deacons with three hits, two walks and six strikeouts. Cole Roland worked 0.1 inning before Massey (3-1) went 2.2 innings with one hit, one walk and five strikeouts.
Crews (2 for 5) led off the bottom of the first with an infield single for the Tigers and went to second on a groundout to first but was stranded there.
Justin Johnson had a one-out double in the top of the fifth for WFU. Skenes got Bennett Lee and Jack Winnay to ground out to leave Johnson at second.
White (2 for 4) had a two-out double in the sixth before Tre’ Morgan lined a ball to the left side. Third baseman Brock Wilken dove to his left to snare the liner and keep the game scoreless.
Johnson drew a leadoff walk in the eighth for the Deacons and Lee sacrificed him to second. Winnay struck out swinging but reached first on a wild pitch, sending Johnson to third. Marek Houston laid a bunt down on the right side. Morgan raced in from first and made a quick toss to catcher Alex Milazzo, who tagged out an airborne Johnson for the second out. Tommy Hawke lined out to left to end the inning.
“I think he showed everyone in the country that he’s the most athletic first baseman out there,” Skenes said of Morgan. “To be honest, I saw him lay the bunt down and Tre’ came flying in and made the play. Picked me up.”
“We work on it all the time,” Johnson said. “It was a big benefit who we played to get to this point, when you look at Tulane, you look at Oregon State, you look at Kentucky. That’s three of the best bunting team in the country. And both going into the Regional and Super Regional we spent a large amount of time on bunt coverages to both sides, safety squeeze defense. Nobody’s played better in this World Series than Tre’. And there hasn’t been a bigger play in this World Series than that bunt play.”
WFU put together a rally in the top of the 11th. Hawke had a dribbler to third that he beat out for a single. He stole second to get himself into scoring position. Lucas Costello walked before Wilken flied out to center to strand two.
“So proud of our guys,” WFU head coach Tom Walter said, “not only for the way we battled today but really all season, our consistency and toughness all season.”
Notes
Both starting pitchers worked earlier in the CWS this past Saturday. Skenes threw 123 pitches in 7.2 innings against Tennessee with five hits, two runs, one walk and 12 strikeouts.
Lowder tossed 100 pitches in 5.1 innings with seven hits, two runs, one walk and six strikeouts.
Skenes raised his season strikeout total to 209, passing the program and SEC record of 202 set by Ben McDonald in 1989.
Lowder had 143 strikeouts for the season, a program record for WFU.
WFU had a team batting average of .309 entering the CWS and averaged 15 runs per game in NCAA Tournament play. In four games in Omaha, the Deacons batted .165 (21 for 127) and scored eight runs.
The SEC will claim its fourth straight national championship by four different teams (Vanderbilt 2019, Mississippi State 2021, Ole Miss 2022).
14 of the past 15 CWS have had at least one SEC team in the Championship Finals.
LSU is in the CWS Championship Finals for the eighth time in program history. The Tigers won six national titles (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2009) and runner-up in 2017.
With WFU eliminated, the 1999 Miami Hurricanes remain the last No. 1 national seed to win the national championship.