By Hunt Palmer
OMAHA, Neb.– Jay Johnson said Thursday that he’d like “to do this thing through the winners’ bracket one time.”
He gets his chance on Monday.
LSU and UCLA lock horns in the all-important game to determine whether the College World Series Championship Series is one win away or three wins away.
Famously, LSU has advanced through the losers’ bracket in its last two trips to Omaha. The 2017 team lost to No. 1 Oregon State in its second CWS game. That forced a rematch with Florida State and then two straight wins over that Beavers team which was 56-4.
In 2023, LSU lost a classic game with No. 1 Wake Forest before defeating Tennessee and dropping the Demon Deacons on consecutive nights to reach the finals.
Johnson’s Arizona team did the same thing in 2016.
The No. 1 team in the country doesn’t await LSU Monday night. UCLA is a solid club but isn’t as formidable as those Oregon State or Wake Forest teams.
The Tigers are the favorites in the matchup, but that’s not worth a thing here in Omaha. It’s nine innings to set the path to the finals.
EYE OF THE TIGERS
LSU’s hallmark this season has been its top two arms. Kade Anderson more than did his job on Saturday night. Now Anthony Eyanson gets the spotlight.
The junior right-hander has thrown it into overdrive in the second half of the season. Over his last nine appearances, seven starts, he’s worked 51 innings and allowed just 10 earned runs (1.76 ERA). He’s struck out 71 and walked 19.
Last weekend in the super regional, he struck out the first four hitters he faced and looked to be on cruise control. West Virginia was able to lay off the devastating breaking ball after that, and the Mountaineers were able to tally four earned runs, the most Eyanson has yielded since mid-April at Auburn.
UCLA is a tough team to strike out. They entered the College World Series 24th national in strikeout percentage against right-handed pitching.
Eyanson is on full rest after a little bit of an awkward schedule the last three weeks. He pitched out of the bullpen in the SEC Tournament and then drew double duty in the regional when he started Friday and came back to close it on Monday. That could have contributed to last week’s uneven outing.
The big righty was bouncing around at practice Sunday and should be ready for another strong effort.
LIKE A ROCH
UCLA may have the best player in the country in shortstop Roch Cholowsky.
The sophomore from Chandler, Az., has put up monster numbers in Westwood this season. He leads UCLA with a .362 batting average and 22 home runs. He’s got a silly 1.223 OPS and a .490 on base percentage.
Lot of good candidates for the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2026 class, but for my money UCLA SS Roch Cholowsky has as strong a resume as anyone. That’s 21 homers from one of the most consistent shortstops in the country.
.371/.511/.762 entering the day. pic.twitter.com/6Fgd1kpQpF
— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) May 21, 2025
He’ll hit in the two-hole in front of Mulivai Levu and his team-best 85 RBI.
Cholowsky has plenty of power and hits to all fields. He’s an elite athlete and will be a very high draft selection next summer, perhaps first overall.
Saturday he squeezed a runner home. That’s UCLA baseball for you.
STUMP AND THE STAFF
All signs indicate that Landon Stump, the sophomore right-hander, will get the start for the Bruins. He’s been their second starter all year.
Stump is a pretty generic right-hander with a 92 mph heater. He sinks that and pairs it with a slider.
Landon Stump gets the strikeout to strand a pair!#GoBruins // B1G+ pic.twitter.com/XSHahQJavs
— UCLA Baseball (@UCLABaseball) April 6, 2025
Based on recent history, Stump won’t be around too long. Head coach John Savage has a staff that, while not supremely talented, is deep with trusted arms.
Last week in the super regional against UTSA, Stump worked four shutout innings with five strikeouts and one walk and was lifted in a 1-0 game. Four UCLA relievers combined to fire five no-hit innings to close out the Road Runners and win 7-0.
CIRCLING HAWK
The one arm in the UCLA bullpen that has elite stuff is freshman Easton Hawk. He’s got eight saves on the season and has struck out 30 in 23.1 innings of work.
He’s pitched five times in the NCAA Tournament. All five outings have been exactly one inning. He’s allowed one earned run on one hit, waked one and struck out 11.
The blueprint for Savage on Monday night will be to get 9-to-15 outs from Stump and then use three or four arms to bridge to Hawk.
BEAR HIBERNATION
Saturday night was rough for Jared Jones. Everyone is aware of the five-strikeout effort. Gabe Gaeckle is a horrendous matchup be Jones because he’s got maybe the best slider in the field of eight teams, and the slider gets Jones more than any pitch.
Let’s not forget that prior to that game, Jones was 6-for-13 (.461) over the previous three games. Saturday was awful, but he’s put a few good swings on balls recently.
It should be noted that Jones made three really nice defensive plays on Saturday night at first base.
Sunday at practice, Jones stayed after the entire team had departed. He worked alone with Johnson as the pitching machine hummed breaking balls at him from 40 feet away.
The thing with Jones is that you’re unlikely to get a 4-for-5 day from him. It’s probably going to be 1-for-4 or 2-for-5 with a couple of strikeouts. But how much damage can he do with that one swing? In a ballpark that’s playing huge with two really good pitching staffs working, that one swing could flip everything. No matter what the wind is doing, Jones can run it out of the yard if he gets a mistake.
Expect The Bear in the lineup Monday night hitting near the top.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:09. Baton Rouge listeners can catch pregame at 5:30 on Eagle 98.1 FM, the flagship home of LSU Athletics.
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