LSU Athletics
By Hunt Palmer
OMAHA, Neb.—Nate Yeskie knows his way around an Omaha dugout.
The LSU pitching coach has now coached in the College World Series with four different programs—Oregon State, Arizona, Texas A&M and LSU. Monday’s national championship was his second.
His pitching staff was a huge reason why.
Over two games in the championship series, Tiger pitching limited Coastal Carolina, which led the CWS in scoring after bracket play, to just three runs on 11 hits over 18 innings to clinch the national championship.
“It’s amazing,” said LSU head coach Jay Johnson. “Second year (together) at Arizona we made it to Omaha. Second year at LSU we won the national championship. I mentioned why pitchers should want to come (to LSU). So, all you college baseball historians, find me another pitching coach that’s gone to Omaha with four different programs. Now double national championship — Oregon State and LSU. And big leaguers and All-Americans and all of that. Nate is the best pitching coach in college baseball.”
Entering the season, LSU needed to replace 29 of the 30 SEC starts from 2024. Gage Jump and Luke Holman each made 10 on their way to becoming second round draft picks. Nate Ackenhausen, Sam Dutton, Javen Coleman and Thatcher Hurd combined nine. The last was by freshman Kade Anderson who allowed five earned runs on four hits in .2 innings against Auburn.
Under Yeskie’s tutelage, Anderson made the leap from talented freshman to College World Series Most Outstanding Player in 12 months.
Anderson emerged as the ace of the 2025 team and led the nation in strikeouts with 180, third in program history to Ben McDonald and Paul Skenes who became No. 1 overall picks.
Behind him it was Anthony Eyanson, a steady Big-West hurler looking to take the next step in his baseball career via the transfer portal. Yeskie helped turn Eyanson into the nation’s No. 3 strikeout pitcher with a season-long ERA of 3.00, better than Anderson’s (3.18).
Those two became a force stronger than any in college baseball.
In the Baton Rouge Regional, the duo combined to work 16.1 shutout innings allowing 10 hits with 21 strikeouts and three walks. They earned wins in the first two games, and Eyanson slammed the door on the Monday final.
In Omaha, Anderson absolutely smothered Arkansas in the opener over seven one-run innings. He then pitched perhaps the greatest game in LSU history to shut Coastal out on the finals. Eyanson’s 6.1 innings on Sunday included nine punchouts, and, like Anderson’s outing hours earlier, Coastal never took an at bat with a runner on third base.
“As far as Anthony, he kind of tricked me a little bit in the fall,” Johnson said. “But now I get it. Like, he knew he was good, and he was kind of pacing himself for this run, then we don’t win the championship without him.”
When Eyanson was done, he handed the ball to Chase Shores to finish it.
Sunday was the likely completion of Shores’s journey at LSU from draft risk to freshman starter to bullpen bullet to Tommy John Surgery to struggling weekend starter to fireballing closer.
It was long and winding, but it worked out.
“To be honest, (Shores) didn’t pitch great going into the season, in our scrimmages and all that type of stuff, but I felt like we had a good enough offense, good enough supporting pieces, we decided to start him because I wanted him to get that experience,” Johnson said. “He had some success, and he had some failures, but I felt like we got the development time in.”
With Yeskie working at his side day in and day out, Shores accepted his transition out of the SEC starting rotation and into the bullpen. That’s a move that would shake most pitchers in their draft season. Relievers don’t earn starter money. Shores didn’t flinch, though.
“We put him in a role that there’s nobody better for that role. And then he had a couple of speed bumps,” Johnson said. “He was pretty good, had a couple of speed bumps, but he had a bad outing in the regionals in the game we lost to Little Rock, and the response from that to what we saw against West Virginia and in the four games here.
“It meant a lot to see him on the mound because this doesn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t happen last summer. That’s like October of 2021, where he chose to come to LSU, and because the injury it took a long time to get to this point but very well worth it.”
The 2025 pitching staff posted the lowest ERA at LSU since 2015. The Tigers won 16 of Anderson’s 18 starts and 16 of Eyanson’s 20 appearances including the last nine.
Zac Cowan pitched to a season ERA of 2.94 and saved his most important outing for the CWS bracket final against Arkansas. Casan Evans worked 11.1 NCAA Tournament innings and allowed three earned runs (2.38 ERA) with 18 strikeouts and three walks.
Cooper Williams worked 6.2 NCAA Tournament innings and allowed one earned run. Seventeen of his 21 appearances on the season were scoreless.
Jacob Mayers, who led the country in walks in 2023 and 2024, came on an struck out the SEC Player of the Year with an insurance run on third base in the ninth inning against Arkansas. The offense walked the Hogs off minutes later.
Five of LSU’s 15 losses came when the Tigers scored two runs or fewer. When the offense mustered three runs, LSU was 49-10. When the Tigers scored six, the issue was decided. LSU went 41-1.
A staff that returned a miniscule 4.2 SEC innings from 2024 rose up to be among college baseball’s best with Yeskie’s watchful eye overseeing.
“We’ve led the country in strikeouts two years in a row,” Johnson said. “I mean, I think it really speaks for itself. And I’m proud of (Yeskie). He’s a friend and loyal, hardworking. And he’s really good at what he does.”
In the moments following his second national title, Johnson used his opportunity at the microphone wisely.
“If you’re a pitcher out there, high school or portal, you should want to come here largely because of Nate,” he said. “And Jamie Tutko is our director of pitching development and analytics and has helped take this thing to a new level as well. We’ve got it all. I’m just really proud of that side of the ball.
“We had to elevate the talent in the LSU baseball program on the mound when I took over here. And we have and we’ve executed it at developing them as good as I ever would have dreamed of or imagined.”
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