{"id":153900,"date":"2025-06-19T07:15:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T07:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/lsu-walks-off-to-advance-to-title-series-ends-arkansas-baseball-season-in-omaha-whole-hog-sports\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T07:15:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T07:15:48","slug":"lsu-walks-off-to-advance-to-title-series-ends-arkansas-baseball-season-in-omaha-whole-hog-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/lsu-walks-off-to-advance-to-title-series-ends-arkansas-baseball-season-in-omaha-whole-hog-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"LSU walks off to advance to title series, ends Arkansas baseball season in Omaha – Whole Hog Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 18, 2025 at 11:37 p.m.
by Matt Jones<\/a>
OMAHA, Neb. \u2014 LSU All-American Jared Jones delivered another gut-punch loss to Arkansas on a field where the Razorbacks have had a few.\u00a0
The Tigers\u2019 slugger lined a game-winning RBI hit off of second baseman Cam Kozeal\u2019s glove with 2 outs to cap a 3-run ninth inning that gave LSU a dramatic 6-5 victory at Charles Schwab Field on Wednesday.\u00a0
With the win, the Tigers (51-15) advanced to play Coastal Carolina in the national championship series that begins Saturday. LSU is looking for its second title since 2023 and eighth overall.\u00a0
\u201cWhat a game,\u201d said LSU coach Jay Johnson, who added, \u201cIs ESPN Classic still around? They should play that game on loop for a week.\u201d
Arkansas (50-15) will leave Omaha without a title after another what-if moment at the College World Series.\u00a0
The Razorbacks chose to pitch to Jones with first base open. He homered in his previous at-bat to tie the game 3-3 in the eighth inning and his RBI in the ninth capped a 3-hit night.\u00a0
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said he did not think intentionally walking Jones was necessary in a right-on-right matchup with pitcher Aiden Jimenez.\u00a0
The Razorbacks opted for 2-out intentional walks twice earlier in the game with mixed results.\u00a0
Michael Braswell struck out to strand 2 base runners in the second inning after Daniel Dickinson was intentionally walked, but pinch hitter Jake Brown had a 2-run single in the sixth after Josh Pearson was intentionally walked.\u00a0
\u201cHindsight is 20-20,\u201d Van Horn said. \u201cWe could talk about all the ifs and buts until we\u2019re sick of each other.\u201d\u00a0
Jones\u2019 hit came on the fourth pitch thrown by Jimenez.\u00a0
\u201cHe\u2019s a great pitcher,\u201d Jones said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to respect his slider and I was able to stay on it and do just enough to get it over the second baseman\u2019s head.\u201d
Jimenez entered after Cole Gibler allowed a 2-run, 2-out double to Luis Hernandez to tie the game 5-5. Arkansas left fielder Charles Davalan appeared to slip as he dove to attempt to catch the ball and it skipped behind him.\u00a0
Davalan was in tears and apologetic as he left the field.\u00a0
\u201cI said, \u2018Why are you sorry?\u2019\u201d Arkansas catcher Ryder Helfrick said. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t be where we are today without him, the way he competes, and he\u2019s one of the best hitters and people and just all-around best baseball players I\u2019ve ever been around.
\u201cFor him to say sorry, it kind of pissed me off because the game\u2019s not on him. It\u2019s on the team.\u201d\u00a0
Van Horn said Davalan also apologized to him.\u00a0
\u201cI said, \u2018Don\u2019t tell me you\u2019re sorry. You don\u2019t have to tell me you\u2019re sorry.\u2019 And he said it again,\u201d Van Horn said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough. That kid doesn\u2019t have to be sorry for anything. He was our glue, man.\u00a0
\u201cWe lost the game because we didn’t score early in the game, we didn’t make a pitch, we didn’t make a play, and we lost. One play might be something that stands out, but there’s a lot of things going in that 27 outs.\u201d\u00a0
The ninth inning was full of defensive plays the Razorbacks would like back. First baseman Reese Robinett threw wide of Gibler covering the bag after a 1-out infield single by Derek Curiel.\u00a0
And instead of trying to turn a potential game-ending double play while ahead 5-3, shortstop Wehiwa Aloy opted for a force out at second base to bring Hernandez to the plate.\u00a0
\u201cThe way it all turned out, I guess I would have,\u201d Van Horn said when asked if he would have liked to have seen Aloy try for a double play. \u201cI haven’t talked to him about it. I think he felt he moved too far to his right for Cam to turn it.\u201d\u00a0
Both teams threw haymakers late to make distant memory a game that was well-pitched for several innings by starters Landon Beidelschies of Arkansas and Zac Cowan of LSU. The Razorbacks took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth.\u00a0
Then the fireworks started, igniting the crowd of 25,470 that included large contingents from both sides.\u00a0
Brown’s 2-out, 2-run single against Arkansas reliever Gabe Gaeckle put the Tigers ahead 2-1. The Razorbacks had hoped to get to Chris Stanfield for a right-on-right matchup, but Johnson made the move to Brown.\u00a0
\u201cHe\u2019s one of our best players,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt really wasn\u2019t a hard decision.\u201d\u00a0
Johnson indicated he made the decision with Gaeckle\u2019s performance last Saturday against LSU on his mind.\u00a0
\u201cWe did not see him at all the other night,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHe struck out, like, 10 guys. It was very uncharacteristic for our team, and it was mostly right-handers.\u201d\u00a0
The Razorbacks regained the lead, 3-2, in the eighth when Davalan scored on a fielder\u2019s choice by Helfrick, and Aloy came home on a 2-out fielding error by Jones at first base.\u00a0
Jones atoned for the mistake with a 398-foot home run against Gaeckle with 2 outs in the bottom of the eighth. That tied the game 3-3.\u00a0
\u201cI hadn’t been seeing Gaeckle very well this week,\u201d Jones said. \u201cHe struck me out 5 times, I think, in 5 at-bats. It was all on sliders. My approach is always to be on time for a fastball. I was lucky enough to get one in the zone and put a good swing on it to tie the game there in the [eighth].\u201d\u00a0
Robinett singled and Brent Iredale doubled on 100 mph fastballs by Chase Shores in consecutive 1-out at-bats in the top of the ninth. LSU turned to right-hander Jacob Mayers, who allowed a 2-run single by Justin Thomas on the first pitch he threw to put the Razorbacks ahead 5-3.\u00a0
Thomas advanced to third on a stolen base and a throwing error, but Mayers struck out Aloy looking to strand Arkansas\u2019 sixth base runner.\u00a0
\u201cThey’ve got a great team,\u201d Van Horn said of LSU. \u201cThey just kept fighting. We kept fighting. They took the lead. We came back, took the lead. Then they got us.\u201d
The only run over the first 5 1\/2 innings was scored by Helfrick, who led off the fourth inning with a 417-foot home run to center.\u00a0
That was the only run Cowan allowed in 5 1\/3 innings. The right-hander, who has been a closer this season, allowed 4 hits and struck out 6 without a walk.\u00a0
Beidelschies pitched into the sixth and allowed 2 runs, 3 hits and 1 walk, and struck out 9. He also hit a pair of batters, including Steven Milam in the sixth inning after a leadoff double by Ethan Frey.\u00a0
Cowan and Beidelschies were both throwing for the first time since the NCAA regional round in early June.\u00a0
Four days after throwing 90 pitches in relief during a 4-1 loss to LSU in the CWS opener for both teams, Gaeckle threw 51 pitches over 3 innings Wednesday. He allowed 1 run, 3 hits and 2 walks, and struck out 4.\u00a0
Gibler was charged with the loss. He recorded 2 outs in the ninth and LSU scored 3 runs on 2 hits and 1 walk against him.\u00a0
Arkansas fell into the losers bracket with its loss to LSU last Saturday but battled to the semifinal round with victories of 3-0 over Murray State and 7-3 over UCLA on Monday and Tuesday.\u00a0
The Razorbacks needed to beat LSU twice to advance to the championship round.\u00a0
\u201cIt would have been nice to win the game, get to tomorrow, see what happens,\u201d Van Horn said. \u201cBut that’s baseball. It’s a crazy game.\u201d\u00a0
The Razorbacks are now tied with Clemson and North Carolina for the second-most appearances at the CWS (12) without winning a national title. Florida State has been to Omaha 24 times without a championship.\u00a0
LSU went 4-1 against Arkansas this season. The Tigers won 2 of 3 games in Baton Rouge on May 9-11, including 5-4 in the series opener when Jones had a sacrifice fly to score the winning run in the 10th inning of a game that ended at 1:17 a.m.
The Razorbacks and the Tigers were the highest-seeded teams remaining when the CWS began last weekend. Arkansas, LSU and Coastal Carolina (56-11) are the sport’s only teams with 50 or more wins this year.\u00a0
\u201cI think it’s pretty cool that rarely does it work out like this,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWhile that game was going on tonight, the three best teams in college baseball were still alive.\u201d
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June 18, 2025 at 11:37 p.m. by Matt Jones OMAHA, Neb. \u2014 LSU All-American Jared Jones delivered another gut-punch loss to Arkansas on a field where the Razorbacks have had a few.\u00a0The Tigers\u2019 slugger lined a game-winning RBI hit off of second baseman Cam Kozeal\u2019s glove with 2 outs to cap a 3-run ninth inning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153901,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}