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PALMER: Top 10 moments of LSU’s title run

Jun 26, 2025 | 8:11 AM

Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

By Hunt Palmer

When fans settle into chilly Alex Box Stadium every February, they’re guaranteed four months of highs and lows.

The hope is that the highs tilt the scales favorably by June.

This 2025 season, once again, provided the highest of highs for the eighth time in program history. It was 68 games that ended with a dogpile in Omaha.

I wanted to go back and list my Top 10 moments of LSU’s journey to a national title.

Not listed here are LSU’s huge RBI hits in Sunday’s finale, the title-clinching double play or anything else that happened in the season’s final game. In a two-run, decisive game, certainly every pitch was more important than anything that happened in February or March, but I wanted some variety as opposed to 10 Omaha moments.

Away we go.

No. 1o: BASH BROTHERS

Josh Pearson came back to LSU for his fourth season in part due to the fact that his brother, John, was on the way. The two lived together this year and got to share a dugout at Alex Box Stadium.

Now they both have a championship ring, Josh’s second. On March 8, both Pearson brothers homered against North Alabama making them the first set of brothers to accomplish that at LSU since Will and Clay Harris in 2005.

No. 9: LARSON LONG BALL

LSU and Alabama began a three-game series on Thursday, April 17. The Tide took a 5-1 lead into the sixth when one of the least likely suspects drew LSU within one.

Ashton Larson, who was 2-for-his-last-21 with seven strikeouts was called upon to pinch hit with two on. He hammered a pitched into the seats in right for a three-run shot to make it 5-4.

Steve Milam hit a three-run homer in the seventh, and Ethan Frey hit a two-run blast in the eighth to give LSU some insurance, but Larson had essentially lost his chance at a starting role by that point and delivered a huge swing off the bench.

No. 8: NORTH DALLAS DEFENSE

LSU was on the ropes in the opener in Frisco. Kansas State put the winning run on first base with one out in the bottom of the ninth, and future Tiger Seth Dardar smoked a double to leftcenter field.

As Pearson collected the ball, Wildcat Dee Kennedy was motoring for home. Pearson hit Milam who fired home to cut down the winning run. Daniel Dickinson made a tremendous diving play to save the winning run a second time to close the ninth before LSU scored three in the tenth to win it.

No. 7 EYS OF TEXAS

Anthony Eyanson announced his presence as the nation’s premier No. 2 starter with his effort in College Station. Just hours after LSU had dropped a tough 3-1 decision in game one of the Saturday double-header, the Tiger offense once again struggled to do anything against Aggie pitching.

It didn’t matter, Eyanson made two runs stand up with a complete game, 14-strikeout effort to square the series.

No. 6 PAIR OF ACES

What was billed as a duel of potential top 20 picks absolutely lived up to the billing in Norman.

Kyson Witherspoon limited LSU to two runs over six innings. Kade Anderson trumped that in a big way. The sophomore southpaw fired a complete-game shutout with 14 strikeouts as he began his emergence as the nation’s top arm.

The 135 pitches were eye-catching, but Anderson proved his strength and durability that would again be on display on the sport’s biggest stage later on.

No. 5: MONSTER MASH

In the Super Regional opener, West Virginia was playing its pesky brand of baseball. LSU held a 3-1 lead, but Anderson’s pitch count was rising.

LSU wasn’t able to find that knockout punch against Mountaineer ace Griffin Kirn. But Kirn was lifted in the fifth in favor of freshman JJ Glasscock. After two walks on nine pitches, Glasscock came out of the game for Cole Fehrman who faced Milam.

The switch-hitting shortstop launched an opposite-field grand slam to blow the game open and get LSU one step closer to Omaha.

No. 4 LATE NIGHT LAUNCH

Liam Doyle and the Tennessee bullpen choked off the LSU offense for eight innings in the series opener delayed by rain.

LSU entered the bottom of the ninth trailing 3-0. Dean Curley made a pair of errors to open the door for the Tigers. The most unlikely result was Dalton Beck’s two-run single with one out that drew LSU within one.

After Chris Stanfield flew out, it was up to Derek Curiel to extend the game. He yanked a game-tying single through the right side to bring Jared Jones to the plate.

As the clock struck 1:17, Jones unloaded on a pitch that ended up flying the batter’s eye in center for a walk-off, three-run blast to give LSU its signature moment of the 2025 regular season.

No. 3 ETHAN EASES TENSION

Little Rock seized control of the Baton Rouge Regional in Monday’s decisive game.

After handling LSU 10-3 on Sunday night, the Trojans claimed a 5-1 lead in the second that lasted until the fourth. With two outs and the bases loaded, Ethan Frey dug in. An out would have meant that the Trojans would have had at least a four-run lead entering the fifth. Frey blistered a three-run double to draw LSU within one. Single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth gave LSU the lead, and three runs in the ninth sealed it, but Frey’s double eased the building tension in The Box.

Those elimination games can get pensive. Frey yanked that out of the stadium with one swing, and the Tigers rolled from there. LSU would not face elimination from that point forward.

No. 2 ANDERSON’S ENCORE

As great as his seven one-run innings were against Arkansas in Omaha, the last chapter in Anderson’s story was the finest.

He fired a complete-game shutout of Coastal Carolina in the national final to put LSU on the doorstep of a title. He struck out 10 and never allowed an at bat with a runner on third base. LSU only mustered one run in the blustery confines of Charles Schwab Field. That was enough for one of the greatest performances in LSU history.

No. 1 HOGS HEAD HOME

Most considered Arkansas and LSU the best two teams in Omaha. The winner of that bracket was going to be a favorite in the final.

LSU won round one thanks to Anderson, but round two was going to have to come from the arms beyond Anderson, Eyanson and Casan Evans who were all burned in the first two games.

When the Hogs took a 5-3 lead in the top of the ninth, things looked bleak. What happened next will go down in LSU lore. Curiel singled on the infield, and Frey walked. Milam’s ground ball to short was handled by Wehiwa Aloy who took the force out at third. Luid Herandez lined to left, and Charles Davalan lost his footing attempting to make the game-ending catch. Instead, the ball caromed into the corner allowing the tying runs to score.

Jones finished the job with a line drive single off the glove of a leaping Cam Kozeal to plate Hernandez and send the Hogs home.

Hunt Palmer

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