2023 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
LSU Tigers to meet Florida Gators in 2023 College World Series Final
After one of the most thrilling baseball games you could ever hope to see, LSU topped the Wake Forest to head to the final against Florida.
The LSU Tigers were the unanimous number one team for most of the 2023 season. They suffered a prodigious tumble in the final stretch of the season and came into the NCAA tournament ranked number five in the nation.
After stiffening their will, the Tigers managed to grind their way through the brackets, sometimes taking the hard road, until they met with the team who displaced them at the top of the polls, Wake Forest.
The semifinal match between the Demon Deacons and Tigers was one of the most exciting games of baseball that you could ever dream of seeing. A true pitching duel between masters of their craft, Wake Forest pitted unbeaten ace Rhett Lowder against perhaps the most dominant pitcher in the college game, LSU’s Paul Skenes.
With both teams having chances, the score remained tied at zero. Lowder threw seven complete innings while his counterpart Paul Skenes went one more at eight. Along the way, Skenes fanned nine batters, giving him 203 Ks this season, breaking the school and SEC records formerly held by “Big” Ben McDonald.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, with a runner on third and one out, Wake Forest laid down a suicide squeeze bunt on the first base side. Tré Morgan charged from first and made a blindingly amazing flick home to make the out and keep the Tigers hopes alive.
As befitting a game of this quality, it all ended on a walk off blast, with Tommy White launching a two-run shot into the left field stands in the bottom of the 11th to seal the deal for the Tigers.
Florida’s road to the final was more straightforward, although equally tough. The number two ranked team in the nation had to get past number seven Virginia, before ending the hopes of Cinderella stories Oral Roberts and TCU to clinch their berth.
The College World Series final will now be an all-SEC affair as the number two Gators face the number five Tigers. Florida comes into the final undefeated while LSU had a single loss to Wake Forest on their road. The slate will now be wiped clean and a new three-game series will decide the champion.
Game One of the series begins Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET, with Game Two the following day at 3 p.m. ET. If necessary, Game Three will be on Monday at 7 p.m. ET. All of the games will be televised on ESPN and can be streamed on FuboTV.