Jay Johnson has been in this exact position before, and so has LSU for that matter, but that didn't stop the Tigers' coach from making quite a declaration after his team upset top-seeded Wake Forest for the second time in as many days.
"That’s one of the greatest moments of my life, honestly, ... I couldn’t be more proud of our team," the head coach said after a 2-0 victory in 11 innings that was capped off by Tommy White's two-run walkoff home run.
Johnson had been in the College World Series twice before -- both with Arizona -- but he said this was the first team he looked at on paper and felt confident it was good enough to win the national title. They proved him right, or at least they'll get the chance to, after three wins in elimination games over three days following a loss to this same Wake Forest squad.
No one was more important than Paul Skenes, who joined Wake Forest's Rhett Louder to put on one of the most dominant pitching duel's you'll ever see in Omaha. The pair combined to throw 15 shutout innings, with 5 hits and 15 strikeouts combined. Thatcher Hurd went the final 3 scoreless for LSU, while Cole Roland and Michael Massey kept the Tigers off the board for three innings before Camden Minacci served up a bomb to White on his first pitch in the game.
"The best pitched college baseball game I have ever seen from both sides," Johnson said. "Obviously what Paul did was spectacular. What Thatcher did was spectacular. You might see four pitchers that were on that mound tonight from both teams that will pitch in Major League Baseball All-Star Games. Hat tip to coach Walter and Wake Forest. We just slayed a giant tonight and that was special."
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More thoughts
“I’d like to try this thing through the winner’s bracket one time, but that’s pretty special. It was not over-exaggerating, that is one of the greatest moments of my entire life, what happened on that field tonight.”
On Tre' Morgan's performance
“What a play. I mean, nobody has played better in this world series than Tre’. There hasn’t been a bigger plan in this world series than that bunt play.”
...
“He’s a special competitor. He’s meant so much to our team these last couple years, and when it matters the most, that’s when you get the best, and we’ve seen that the whole NCAA Tournament. … The situation is never bigger than his plan. His competitive nature is spectacular.”
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