LSU - 5, Coastal Carolina - 3
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by LSU head coach Jay Johnson and student-athletes Anthony Eyanson, Chris Stanfield and Chase Shores.
JAY JOHNSON: Unbelievable. I'm so proud right now. It's not to be taken for granted being here two years ago. That was special. Greatest night of my life.
This is equal and maybe even tops in some ways.
It was probably a year ago today, we had 12 players in our program that actually played on the field for us in 2024 -- 12. That's not it. And then, as Coach Bertman would say, we ended up with some really good fortune. We had to go to work.
We had really talented freshmen through the Major League Baseball draft. In a month's time we were able to add Chris. We were able to add Anthony, Zac Cowen, Luis Hernandez Danny Dickinson to those 12 guys who were the right 12 guys.
And not included in that 12 was Chase Shores. You don't get to this podium, you don't get to this moment without a lot of things going right over a long period of time. Chase Shores is the first real dude high school player that committed to us when I accepted the job.
And I think this is appropriate to have these three players here. They are exactly what this team was, which is -- our motto for the year was "tough and together." And I've never seen a team more mentally tough and consistent.
We went through probably the hardest schedule in college baseball, and we had one hiccup -- one. A little speed bump at Auburn. But other than that they dominated the season and they dominated the schedule.
And it is talent, but it is character. I mean, I can't even, like, picture may life or our program without a Chris Stanfield, a Chase Shores and an Anthony Eyanson.
We were a little behind on Chris. And somehow he had the faith, we hit it off pretty quick, built a pretty strong bond. And we were able to get him.
And I've mentioned this before with Anthony, there's one guy a summer in this crazy new world that we're living in that you know it's going to tip the scales for you to have an opportunity to be here and do what we just accomplished, and that was Anthony Eyanson.
And then Chase Shores, I'm so proud of him. I mean, he was a weekend starter on the 2023 national championship team as a freshman. His last pitch that season was 97 mile an hour fastball that struck somebody out from Tennessee, with the box rocket.
And then he had to go through the 18-month recovery rehab and persevered through all of that. And there's nobody I would have rather had finish the game tonight for the second national championship than Chase Shores.
And I could talk forever and ever about a lot of different things. I would just say these three dudes sum up what the 2025 national championship team was.
I love you guys. I will do anything for you for the rest of your life. And amazing. You did this. It would not have happened without you.
ANTHONY EYANSON: Love you, Coach.
CHRIS STANFIELD: Love you, too.
CHASE SHORES: Love you, Coach.
Q. Chase, Coach kind of mentioned your duration through your LSU career -- not necessarily the injury, how you dreamt it happening, but what does it mean to be on the mound in the final out of the College World Series?
CHASE SHORES: It means everything. Being a part of that '23 was special. But just to play a part in this run in Omaha was a dream come true. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm super thankful to do it with great teammates like Chris and Anthony.
Q. Anthony and Chris, the idea that you were battle tested coming into this thing. You've seen probably a little bit of everything. Obviously the first inning in this one got off to a wild, whacky start. But then you had to settle in and play ball for eight more innings. Speak to the resilience and understanding that this thing was a long way from being over.
ANTHONY EYANSON: Like you said, we've been tested all year. I was just waiting for adversity to hit me in the game. Right when that happened I knew that's when I put my pedal to the metal and pushed a little more, pushed a little bit more, and just continue to fight for the team. And knowing I got guys behind me that, obviously we just won this thing, so they're pretty good at baseball.
But they just did their job behind me. So super grateful for that.
CHRIS STANFIELD: I'd say we have been tested all year. We've been through some ups and downs. And there's no one I'd do it with besides this team. It's been amazing. Starts at the top with Coach Johnson and the staff and just keeping us ready and prepared day in and day out.
When we went down 1-0, that's really nothing for us because we know the whole game is ahead of us and we've got the best team.
Q. Anthony, now that you're a national champion, what did that Little Rock win, the last one, do for your guys' confidence?
ANTHONY EYANSON: I think we were confident before that, but I think just coming back from that game really showed us what we were about. Obviously they played very well that weekend. Just us staying to our plan and our approach and just continuing to be ourselves really helped us out going forward.
Q. Anthony, I assume when you made the decision to come to LSU that winning a national championship was a major reason behind that decision. Now that you're here, how does this compare to maybe what you dreamed it might feel like?
ANTHONY EYANSON: I remember hugging my parents right now with the natty hat and shirt on. When I dreamed about this place -- and even on my visit, looking at all the history on the wall, this is what I dreamed literally -- throwing pitches, starting the game for the final game of the national championship.
Just super grateful for Coach Johnson giving me the opportunity, and thankful for God, obviously.
Q. Chase, what were you thinking when you came in there? You went through a tough situation, they got close. What How was your heart pounding and what was going through your mind?
CHASE SHORES: I was just trying to take it one pitch at a time. I just kept thinking about my teammates, just really wanted to get the job done for them. I feel when you try to do something for your teammates it kind of takes the pressure off of you and just allows me to go in there and focus on the job.
Q. What does Coach Johnson do to bring the group together and get you guys together, especially with so many new faces in the building?
CHRIS STANFIELD: He's the man. I say that all the time, but we come in and we know what our jobs are. And he lays it out for us and makes it very easy to understand. So for us to just go out there and be ourselves and play our game, like, that's what LSU is.
CHASE SHORES: For sure. I'm super thankful for Coach Johnson. I've really appreciated these past three years. And I mean, like Chris said, he's the man.
He outlines everything before the game and makes our job a lot easier because he says what's going to happen before the game, and we've just got to go out there and execute.
ANTHONY EYANSON: It feels like a movie when he talks about the lineup before the game talking about everybody's role, how they can contribute to scoring runs on the offensive side, it's fun to watch.
But nobody more prepared obviously than Coach Johnson. He puts in so much work that none of us see just preparing the team and preparing the coaching staff to tackle any obstacle.
Q. Chris, talk about that two-RBI single giving you guys the lead. Kept the lead after that. Kind of just talk about that, your thought process going up to the plate.
CHRIS STANFIELD: I went up there with a clear mind, and like Chase said, I was just trying to do it for the guys. It was one on at the time. I knew if I came through it would put us on top.
It was really just getting a good pitch and putting a good swing on it, like all year.
Q. I think we can all agree that Jay's the man, but how about Nate as well? The job that crew has done developing pitchers and making this place a place that pitchers want to come pitch at. I guess you two can speak to it different avenues. But what have you seen in the development in both of your games and Kade's game that really has established LSU as maybe the place to be for pitchers?
CHASE SHORES: Coach Yeskie is great. He holds us to a really high standard. He always says he's coaching us for the player he thinks we're going to be, rather than the player we are right now. So just holding us to the higher standard just allows us to go out there and just work really hard and do our job.
ANTHONY EYANSON: Yeah, just like Coach Johnson, he works day in and day out. So much time that nobody sees. Just helping the pitching staff find out who they are as pitchers. I think that's most important going forward trying to figure out your identity as a pitcher. He just does a really good job being really transparent with everybody.
Q. Chris and Anthony, when you guys were in the transfer portal and Coach Johnson is giving you his pitch, what did he pitch, and how did he execute on that recruiting pitch?
CHRIS STANFIELD: In June, we were on the phone, and he told me, do you want to come play for the best program in the country. That was a no-brainer.
But after that, just really belief, and communication's really been the biggest. Just coming here, knowing the main goal, playing at LSU there were already seven of them. So, why not get another?
ANTHONY EYANSON: I just remember Coach Johnson calling me. I was still waiting to wake up from my dream. I didn't really believe it until I talked to him on the phone. But he would just text me every day, sending me pictures of the pinstripe jerseys. That's why I wore them, honestly.
Just telling me, Friday night, carving dudes. 24, what number do you want? 24, it's yours. Just super persistent and credit to him, he made it clear that this is the place to be.
Q. Chase talked about the story a couple times, but you decommitted from a school before coming to LSU. What was sort of your thought process behind that decision? And how did he sort of execute the plan that Jay laid out for you up to tonight?
CHASE SHORES: Pretty similar to Chris and Anthony. Coach Johnson just made me feel wanted. He was persistent in the way he was recruiting me. Same thing -- what number do you want? Number 34.
Just kind of executing and telling me everything that was going to happen in my freshman season, and it did happen. We won a national championship.
And I think once you get to campus, he keeps recruiting you, because that's just the coach he is. He's a great coach. I'm really thankful I ended up coming to LSU.
Q. You and I talked in the fall. You had a pretty good feeling about this team, particularly from an offensive standpoint. Just what are your thoughts on how this season progressed offensively? I also remember you saying, this Eyanson guy pans out we're going to be really good. He panned out pretty good.
JAY JOHNSON: Yeah, he's all right. I think it was unique. It was a new team. But I think I developed a really good feel for it quickly. And it was a style of player that fit maybe the totality of my career a little bit better than what we had last year.
We sent 13 dudes to pro baseball after winning the '23 national championship. And it's hard to overcome when you lose that talent.
But it clicked. Chris, very dynamic player. He didn't have a great season at Auburn the year before. But I liked him. I liked how competitive he was. I liked the athlete. We felt we could help him get better. He did.
Danny is probably the star, the guy that we brought in. And the person just far exceeds the player. He's so competitive. He's been playing with a broken hand since the first game of the NCAA tournament. Listen to what I just said. He broke his hamate bone in a game he hit two homers in the NCAA tournament and just got five hits in Omaha. And we went, like, 10-1. If that is not toughness, I don't know what is. Massive hats off.
And guys got better. Steven Milam got better, especially down the stretch. Jake Brown got better. Jared Jones got better.
That's what happens. We can't promise that we're going to win two titles in three years and you're going to get to play in Omaha, especially going through the SEC. But I do promise them that they will be better players.
Nobody does a better job of that than our staff. Going off Michael's question, if you're a pitcher and you don't want to come here right now you're out to lunch. You're not thinking clearly, because that's three dudes that pitched in the series that are all going to be in the Major Leagues within 18 months.
The offensive side, that's kind of my baby. I take pride in it. It is a nonstop effort of player development.
As far as Anthony, he kind of tricked me a little bit in the fall. 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.
And it got maybe overshadowed a little bit by Kade but he won 12 games, too. That's a lot in today's college baseball. Wins the first game of the NCAA tournament. Closes out the regional final. Grinds out a win in the super. Gets us off to a good start against UCLA. And wins the national championship game.
I could tell pretty quick it was going to go good for him. He deserved to be on the mound for the winner today.
Q. When you're putting together this team and you're flying across the country, trying to do it through the transfer portal and even with the high school guys, how crazy was that? And what was your plan going, maybe not your simplified plan, but your plan going in to try to find the right guys for you?
JAY JOHNSON: That's a really good question. I knew we had really good players coming back. It just wasn't a lot of volume. I knew the big man was going to be back and be healthy. That was going to be a huge shot in the arm to the pitching staff. Might have been three years in a row if he had been healthy and never had gotten hurt.
I really believe that would have been possible if you add him to what we had last year, which was we had Luke Holman and Gage Jump.
But two years in a row -- in '23 we had 13 players drafted. That's an SEC record, not an LSU record, an SEC record. Last year, I believe we had eight pitchers drafted, another SEC record. That's a lot to replace over a two-year period.
Maybe that's why I'm so proud of this thing. This is a completely different team.
As far as putting it together, I just felt like we were a little short last year and it wasn't by much -- it wasn't by much. But it was just a little short of being able to win any type of game.
And in match-up, we didn't quite match-up the way we needed to against -- Tennessee won it last year against them, or maybe some of the other best teams in the country, but it wasn't by much. And I did what I did to give us the opportunity to do this.
It's not like you're not trying every day of your life. Sometimes it just doesn't work out.
Kind of funny story now, but Nate Snead, who is the best reliever in college baseball the last two years, we eliminated Tennessee. He went on a visit to Tennessee when we were playing Florida for the championship. He was supposed to come on a visit a couple days later but never did because he committed to Tennessee. That's how it goes.
I can't control being in the finals two of the last three years and losing some recruiting days. It's wild how it goes.
But Chris, Danny, Zac Cowen -- a little bit of luck. We're playing Wofford and I'm scouting Zac Cowen going, how do we land on this dude? This is who we're going to face in the first games of the regionals.
Luckily they didn't pitch him because he had thrown, like, 800 pitches in the conference tournament. But he goes in the portal and it's, like, I'm not asking Nate, I'm not asking Jamie, I'm not asking anybody. This dude is coming to LSU. And we got him.
And five and a third against Arkansas, the most talented team in the country this year, and one of the best, a First-Team All-SEC reliever -- we just hit on the right players that were 1,000 percent the right people. You can't do that without all of that.
I feel very lucky and fortunate that these dudes picked us. And what a season.
Q. Kade Anderson from last year to this year and throughout this year, same with Anthony, and Chase got better and other pitchers got better as the year went on, how valuable was it to have your Nate Yeskie for two years, the first guy you had the first two years as pitching coach?
JAY JOHNSON: It's amazing. Second year at Arizona we made it to Omaha. Second year at LSU we won the national championship.
I mentioned, like, why pitchers should want to come here -- Oregon State, Arizona, Texas A&M, 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.
We've led the country in strikeouts two years in a row. I mean, I think it really speaks for itself. And I'm proud of him. He's a friend and loyal, hardworking. And he's really good at what he does.
If you're a pitcher out there, high school or portal, you should want to come here largely because of Nate. 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. 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.
Q. Every at-bat during the College World Series when Michael Braswell came up, LSU baseball fans, standing applause. He made great defensive plays throughout the finals. Tallies a hit today. A statement on maybe Braswell's performance in the finals and also LSU fans?
JAY JOHNSON: We don't win the game last night without his defense. I mean, we lose the game without his defense last night. I was looking hard at it.
Tanner's a good player, too, and he helped us get here, but just on the offensive platoon side it probably would have made more sense to play Tanner against Flukey and Morrison.
But with the pressure that Coastal puts on you with the inside game, we just felt like we had to play him. There was a lot of pull-side ground balls against Kade throughout the season.
I just -- we have a meeting where we kind of talk through the lineup. That one I put on the board somebody tried to raise their hand, but I said, no, this is what we're doing tonight. And they came back and said, good decision, Coach.
Today, awesome, sac bunt, I believe, walk and a base hit. And I'm really happy for him because when he came here he didn't talk about pro baseball. He talked about getting to Omaha. I kind of fist bumped him the first game we were here he said, we're here, let's win it now. He contributed a lot to that.
Q. Back to Shores for a second here. We all know the kind of prodigious talent he is it and it wasn't a straight path to get to this point. It would be easy, maybe, to lose trust when a guy's struggling with the strike zone, but you kept going back to him put him in position to get to this point. I'm curious, first of all, what was key to getting that out of him, this kind of trustworthiness in the end of the game? And what did it mean to you for him to have this moment?
JAY JOHNSON: The talent is uncoachable. I mean, it's 99, 100. It's what they look like on TV at Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field, Petco Park, that's where he'll spend his life because he's got that ability.
He missed a lot of development time. I threw him right into the rotation on one of the best teams in college baseball history because I wanted to get mileage on his tires to get that talent to become the skill that we're all seeing now.
Then he got hurt, unfortunately, missed all that time. And this year, to be honest, he 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, and he had some success and he had some failures, but I felt like we got the development time in. Then we put him in a role that there's nobody better for that role. And then he had a couple of speed bumps. 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.
Q. You guys had base traffic, I don't know, like 16 out of the 18 innings, I think. Just your ability to work in around that. You mentioned the importance of the defense, just to be able to navigate that and only give up two runs.
JAY JOHNSON: I think -- I'm looking at the stat sheet -- we only walked one. We had the one hit-by-pitch. And we laid out a pretty clear plan what we needed to do to beat this team.
Congratulations to Coach Schnall and Coastal. To win 26 games in a row is insane. We won 17 at one point this year, didn't feel like we lost for like two months. 26 is ridiculous.
It took the best team in the country to beat them. LSU is the best team in the country this year, not just the national champion.
But Anthony, that's what he does. They were talking about how we map out the game, and for him it was simple: Closing the first inning. If he usually gets through the first, he's special. It was like you're the closer in the first inning, and then do what you do, which is get better as the game goes along, and there ain't nobody better in baseball, in baseball, at pitching with runners on base than Anthony Eyanson.
And I just didn't feel like we ever allowed them to have momentum in the two games. It's like this, it's like in football -- they were in third and eight the whole time because we did a good job keeping the lead-off guy on base. When we got a baserunner on, we immediately got the next guy out.
Q. Talking to Josh Jordan on the field, he said, "Winning is addictive." This feeling you're feeling right now, is this what you chase, is this what everyone chases and is this what brings you back? Obviously impacting young people and you love the game of baseball, but this feeling right now, how do you describe it?
JAY JOHNSON: This was different. I mean, the first one was the first one. And I felt like in coming here to LSU, I felt like I could help that group of players in the second year that we were here to do that.
We needed to add Skenes, White, those guys, but I felt like I could help Tre' Morgan be a better player, Jordan Thompson be a better player. So that was kind of that. This was just I'm so proud of how this team went about their business, because again these guys are really smart. They know the pro prospects that some of these guys are. I think I might have even called Kindall and he rated us 3 in the preseason, or 4, I'm like, are you sure, that seems pretty high just because you didn't know because it was so many new pieces.
But they performed like national champions every single day of this. We had a great fall. They did what they needed to do in December. We had a great lead up to the season, the four weeks leading up to the season. Great in the nonconference.
Our league is so tough. Going 19-11 feels like amazing, you know what I mean? Then tournament time is our time. Tournament is our time. And they were amazing in the NCAA tournament.
Q. What was your reaction to see your counterpart get tossed in the first inning?
JAY JOHNSON: That's my friend, too, and somebody I have great respect for. I didn't have any reaction because I was so locked into what we needed to do in the game.
I was ejected for arguing balls and strikes this year and they don't like that when you argue balls and strikes. I'm not sure really what happened. I saw the first base coach arguing. Then he came out and I don't know what was said. I don't want to get into any of that.
It's a tough situation. But I literally moved past it immediately. I needed to be locked in on what our players needed from our coaching staff.
Q. Is there a common thread between these teams you've had over the last couple of years that allows you guys to have this level of success repeatedly even with so many new faces every year?
JAY JOHNSON: Character, 100 percent character. And it manifests itself in different ways. The first one was real trust and buy-in and, hey, man, I'm some dude from California. And that probably wasn't going to work in Louisiana unless the players trusted what we were going to do and we did. We made it happen in two years.
Then this one, I think that happened a little quicker because of what we had done to develop guys for pro baseball. I mean, Grant Taylor and Paul Gervase just got called up here in the last two weeks, and Tre' is on the way. And Jacob Berry is close. That's what they want to do. There's nobody better at helping guys do that than the coaching staff at LSU.
So these guys, I think it was more about we just hit on exactly what we needed from the person and the player standpoint. There was no mistakes. A guy like Eddie Yamin, he didn't play one play all year. In the dugout, in the bullpen, phenomenal. This was like an all-conference player at another school. Phenomenal. We just got the right guys on the bus.
Q. You talk about your relationship with Skip Bertman. He made it here today for the championship, eighth in school history. What did that mean to you for him to be here, and what was that conversation like at the end of the game?
JAY JOHNSON: First off, the local people have probably heard me say this. But literally the best part of me being the head coach at LSU has been the relationship that I have with Coach Bertman. That far and away is the best part of being the coach at LSU is the relationship that I have with Coach Bertman.
He wouldn't argue with me, I would say the two national championships are up there tied for first with that, and I think he'd be okay with that.
But he came into the coaches' locker room today. I knew he was coming, but it still caught me off guard for a second, and I was like, "Oh, we're winning today." The man with the magic is in the house.
Then he started talking like what we were going to do for the celebration. I was like, Coach, this is a pretty good team that hasn't lost in two months that we have to figure out how to beat. But he's the best, and I think it's so awesome that he's here and that he got to share in this championship game.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports