Kade Anderson had already delivered his big game. In LSU’s Omaha opener, Anderson took the ball against No. 3 Arkansas. That effort — 7 innings, 3 hits, 1 run and 7 strikeouts — only enhanced the durable lefty’s legend. But on Saturday night, Anderson outdid even himself in the first game of the College World Series Finals.
Nine innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 5 walks, 10 strikeouts in a 1-0 win. Yes, LSU delivered a single run in the 1st inning and then its own bats went into the deep freeze. Didn’t matter. Anderson’s 130th pitch of the night ended an absolute gem and delivered the pivotal first game of the Finals to the Tigers.
What could follow? Only one of the most bizarre Game 2 situations ever to lead to a 5-3 Sunday win and a title for LSU.
Some unclear beef between the involved parties led home plate umpire Angel Campos to eject Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Schnall. First-base coach Matt Schilling also got the boot during the ensuing discussion. LSU shook off distraction and fought to a 5-3 win to wrap up the CWS title, the school’s 8th ever (made even more impressive since they’ve all been in the last 35 years). A masterpiece and a what the %^& ended LSU’s triumphant run.
Anderson’s Game 1 masterwork
Yes, Arkansas’s Gage Wood delivered a 19-strikeout no-hitter earlier in the College World Series that seemed to be the last word on pitching efforts in Omaha.
It might be that Anderson’s Game 1 performance was better. Aided with that solitary run of a Steven Milam 1st-inning single, Anderson pitched into and out of trouble all night. Two runners left on base in the 1st inning, 1 in the second, 1 caught stealing to end the 3rd with another runner left on, a leadoff double allowed to open the 4th before Anderson struck out the side. Another runner left on base in the 5th, another in the 7th, with 1 more in the 8th and in the 9th innings.
Anderson clung to a 1-0 lead for 8 innings and had just a single 1-2-3 inning in the process. Coastal Carolina was seemingly always 1 base hit away, but that was just an optical illusion of a master pitcher throwing his best baseball. This far, Anderson seemed to say, but no farther. And by “this far,” he meant third base apparently.
Let’s talk about 130 pitches. Is it wrong if that’s a point of rejoicing? Even in Major League Baseball, pitchers are often pulled from potential no-hitters due to pitch counts approaching or reaching 100 pitches. MLB has had 10 total complete games in 2025, with no pitcher throwing more than 117 pitches in one of those games. Anderson’s left arm didn’t fly off his body on pitch 118. In fact, he might have been good for another inning or 2 had LSU needed it.
Ejection madness soils LSU triumph
Game 2 was 0-0 in the 1st inning when Campos ejected Schnall after the CCU skipper held up 3 fingers in regard to some apparently missed ball-strike calls. By rule, Schnall can’t actively argue balls and strikes. But by unwritten rule, his ejection was horrific.
Campos might be Doug Harvey and Al Barlick and Bill Klem all rolled into one. But the bare facts of the ejection are clear. This was the ultimate game of a championship finals. Fans do not buy tickets to see Angel Campos umpire. Maybe Schnall did go too far. But in the 1st inning, apparently apropos of nothing, no umpire should make the game so about him that he loses track of the situation and his role. Warn Schnall. Whip your mask off and stalk over to the CCU dugout in angry outreach. But don’t eject a head coach in the 1st inning of a game unless he absolutely leaves you no choice. Schnall did not objectively seem near that point.
The second-worst part of the fiasco (the worst being that Schnall and Schilling couldn’t finish the game) is that it detracts from LSU’s accomplishment. Campos managed to make himself more famous that the winning team as well as the deposed coaches. The head honchos of NCAA baseball would do well to keep Campos as far away from Omaha next spring as is humanly possible.
LSU broke through on a 4-run fourth inning. The game was tied at 1, but LSU’s Chris Stanfield singled in 2 runs and Derek Curiel singled in 2 more. CCU pulled within 5-3 in the 7th on a 2-run blast from Wells Sykes, but that was as close as it got.
Anthony Eyanson had a solid start, leaving LSU’s 2 aces with a combined 15 1/3 innings, 3 runs allowed and 19 strikeouts. Curiel’s game-winning RBI cap a phenomenal season that leaves him arguably the top player in the sport heading into his sophomore season in 2026. If MLB allowed one-and-done, Curiel would be about to get paid in a significant way.
As it is, the Tigers won their second title in 3 years. Jay Johnson is perhaps the top coach in the sport. Curiel will be back with a bright LSU future pending. In their triumph, the Tigers put aside the long ball and won with pitching and big innings keyed by singles and doubles. In the Finals, Anderson’s brilliance and Campos’s chaos will always be remembered. So, hopefully, will LSU’s grit.
College World Series Notebook: Kade Anderson’s masterpiece and a bizarre 1st inning send LSU to the title Saturday Down South.
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