In a thrilling 11-inning win over Wake Forest, it was the transfers putting on a show. Two days later it was the old heads willing the Tigers to a pivotal win in Game 1 of the title series.
There will be cries in certain corners of the internet that LSU "bought" their College World Series appearance, and it's hard to argue that the transfer additions of Paul Skenes, Tommy White and Thatcher Hurd have paid major dividends and ahead of schedule in the Jay Johnson era. But what about the pair of 5th-year seniors who accounted for 3 RBIs, including a go-ahead home run in the 11th inning of a 4-3 victory?
It all comes down to the two things every title team needs to have, as Johnson explained. One is future pro talent, which LSU has in droves. The other is veterans who can set an example and the tone. No one exemplifies that more than Gavin Dugas and Cade Beloso.
"You have to have old players that really know what they’re doing, and those players really know what they’re doing," Jay Johnson said. "And the buy-in piece of it, just to a new deal, they’ve made this for me as a new coach. Those two guys have made this situation, program, culture. They are as important as anybody."
Beloso has been as hot as anyone in the College World Series field, and he got the scoring started on Saturday with an RBI single in the first inning. Dugas followed up with a rocket home run over the left field wall in the third. Beloso reproduced that magic 10 innings later. Sure, there was a Tommy Tanks blast along the way, but it's all part of the equation. Beloso has five hits, 4 RBI and two home runs in Omaha, and another three home runs in earlier tournament rounds.
"I tell people all the time, [Beloso] going down last year, that hurt our team dramatically," Johnson said. "And I think if you’re paying attention to the College World Series, you can clearly see why.”
Oh, add in a 17-strikeout performance from Ty Floyd (also not a transfer, by the way), and you've hit all the angles. Riley Cooper finished off the final three innings. He is a transfer, but he followed Jay Johnson from Arizona and has been in Baton Rouge two seasons. There's investment there in a lot of ways.
“The chemistry is crazy," Cooper said. "Just so much fun to be around the guys. What better place to be, and so we’re just having a blast doing it.”
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The transfer party won't stop, particularly now that Johnson has shown exactly what can be accomplished when they take their talents to Baton Rouge. He's already landed three players out of the portal this month, and he's still making sales pitches in post-game press conferences. But that's only part of the equation, as we saw Saturday night in Omaha.