College World Series
Omaha Kings
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Once again, Omaha turned into a second home for LSU as the Tigers locked up their eighth national championship at the Men’s College World Series.
On a blistering Nebraska Sunday afternoon, with thousands of purple-and-gold faithful singing along to “Callin’ Baton Rouge,” the Tigers held off a red-hot Coastal Carolina team to finish the job. They didn’t just win, they reminded everyone that no program has done it better over the last 40 years.
Sure, the University of Southern California still holds the record for the most titles with 12, and Texas has more total wins in Omaha.
The difference, though, is that those programs peaked decades ago. USC won their last CWS title in 1998.
LSU didn’t even make its first College World Series until 1986. Since then? Eight titles, 22 trips to Omaha, and 2 championships in the last three years. And they’ve done all of that in the middle of the toughest conference in the country.
Skip Bertman started this thing back in the ’80s. Paul Mainieri kept it rolling. Now Jay Johnson has it in overdrive. Johnson has been at LSU just four years and already has two national titles. That’s not just success. That’s dynasty-level stuff.
There were 26 newcomers to the Tigers’ baseball team this past season, but even with a roster full of new faces Johnson found a way to bring them together.
It wasn’t always pretty, and it was absolutely a grind to get through a tough SEC schedule, but once they found their rhythm nobody could stop them.
And it’s not like they’re slowing down. Sure, they’ll lose some big names to the MLB draft in guys like potential number one overall pick Cade Anderson, and Anthony Eyanson, but stars like Derek Curiel, Steven Milam, and Casan Evans are coming back. Don’t be surprised if LSU’s back in the title game again in 2026.
The 2025 tournament also marked the 75th anniversary of the College World Series in Omaha, and it had a little bit of everything.
There was Cinderella magic from Murray State, a fun mix of teams from all over the country, and some real drama in the later rounds.
Coastal Carolina gave LSU all they could handle in the final, even after the Chanticleer’s bloviating head coach, Kevin Schnall, was ejected in the first inning. I could write an entire article about how I feel about him and his bully, tough-guy style of coaching but I’m trying to keep this article positive.
In the end, LSU did what LSU does. The Tigers are the 2025 college baseball National Champions.
And let’s not forget the other crown they claimed in Omaha, the Rocco’s Jell-O Shot Challenge.
Once again, Tiger fans drank the competition under the table, slamming down 52,390 shots. That’s more than five times what Coastal fans managed.
LSU fans now hold the top two totals in the event’s history. Is it silly? Sure. But is it also a sign of how wild and passionate the fanbase is? Absolutely.
Ben McDonald, LSU’s first big baseball star and a former No. 1 overall MLB draft pick, said it best, “LSU just knows how to adapt. They know how to keep up with the times.” And that’s exactly what Jay Johnson is doing. He is navigating the chaos of the transfer portal and NIL while still putting a winning team on the field.
LSU might not have the oldest records in the book, but what they’ve done since the mid-80s is unmatched. They’ve kind of become the Yankees of college baseball. You either love them or love to hate them. Either way, you have to respect what they’ve built.
College baseball has had plenty of great programs, but right now LSU is king. That crown isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Jason Bishop Show June 14 2024

Jason Bishop Show June 5 2024

Super Post-Season
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For college baseball fans, this is the best time of year…College Baseball Postseason!
College baseball postseason is structured a little differently than most other sports in college athletics but has become one of the most entertaining postseasons recently.
This week (May 20 thru May 26) is the week for most league’s conference tournament.
Following “Championship Sunday” where most leagues will have the championship game, there’s a dead period of about 18 hours or so that leave teams convincing themselves (or sometimes sweating it out) that they will hear their name on Selection Monday.
At high noon on Memorial Day, the college baseball world will be locked into the selection show to wait on which 64 teams will head to an NCAA Regional.
Since 1999 when the tournament expanded to 64 teams, NCAA Baseball has structured the postseason with ranking the top 16 national seeds and those 16 teams will “host” a Regional at their home ballpark and welcome in three other teams determined by the NCAA selection committee.
With the 31 Division I conferences each receiving one “automatic bid”, that leaves 33 at-large bids up for grabs that are also selected by the committee. Most of the 31 auto-bids are given to the conference tournament champions.
Once the field of 64 is set, and the Regionals are determined, the top 16 national seeds will host the NCAA Regionals Friday May 31st through Sunday June 3rd. The Regionals are a miniature double elimination tournament between the four teams assigned to that Regional site. The winner of each Regional advances to the Super Regional round.
With just one team advancing out of each Regional, the field quickly gets trimmed from 64 to 16 over one weekend. When the Regionals are set, two Regionals are paired together (#1-seed & #16-seed paired, #2-seed & #15-seed paired and so-on) and the winner from each of those regionals will face off in the Super Regional which will be hosted at the higher ranked team’s park. With the field cut down and only 8 Super Regionals going on, this round consists of a best-of-3 game series.
If you’re one of the eight teams lucky enough to win a Super Regional, it’s time to head to the college baseball mecca…Omaha, Nebraska.
Now to the casual fan, Omaha, Nebraska may not sound majestic, but to a college baseball player, coach, fan….broadcaster….it is the “Magical Land of Oz of College Baseball.”
Since 1950, Omaha has been the destination on the mind of every college baseball team as the host of the College World Series.
From 1950 until 2010, Rosenblatt Stadium was the site for the CWS before moving in 2011 to Charles Schwab Field (formerly TD Ameritrade Park).
Make no mistake, no matter the stadium, no matter the year, Omaha is the perfect site for the grand finale to college baseball.
Each of the 8 Super Regional winning teams will flock to Omaha and be embarrassed with open arms from the community that treats this event like Christmas.
The Omaha area essentially is laser focused with everything that isn’t around the College World Series and serving the visitors shutting down.
The college baseball postseason may seem odd and somewhat drawn out to casual fans, but to baseball fans, it’s an almost month-long celebration of another season of the game so many love…College Baseball.
Jason Bishop Show June 18
Swinging For Omaha
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
College Baseball National Top Sixteen Seeds came out this week and they are listed below for the NCAA Baseball Tourney.
The top 16 seeds host a regional and then the winners of the regionals go to the Super Regionals the following week with the 8 winners advancing to the College World Series in Omaha on June 15th.
Sixty-four teams are chosen for the NCAA baseball tourney. Top 16 Seeds:
- UCLA (47-8) 2. Vanderbilt (49-10) 3. Georgia Tech (41-17) 4. Georgia (44-15) 5. Arkansas (41-17) 6. Mississippi St. (46-13) 7. Louisville (43-15) 8. Texas Tech (39-17) 9. Oklahoma St. (36-18)
- East Carolina (43-15) 11. Stanford (41-11) 12. Ole Miss (37-25) 13. LSU (37-24)
- North Carolina (42-17) 15. West Virginia (37-20) 16. Oregon St. (36-18-1)
Regional Winners:
UCLA: Top ranked Bruins look very good in 2019. Baylor could pose a problem but look for UCLA to advance to the Supers.
Vanderbilt: Vandy should coast through the Nashville regional.
Georgia Tech: The Jackets have Coastal Carolina and Auburn in the Atlanta regional. This one could get interesting. Give me GT to move on the Super Regional.
Georgia: The Dawgs have a future major league rotation playing currently in college. FSU in Mike Martin’s last year could cause some issues. Mercer playing in the Athens regional has nothing to lose. What if the UGA/Mercer game comes down to a Randon Jernigan vs Will Bowdoin matchup of former Glynn Academy Red Terrors teammates? Dawgs move on to host a Super Regional.
Arkansas: Are the Hogs on a mission in 2019? They were a foul ball catch away from being National Champs in 2018. Hogs win the Fayetteville Regional.
Miami: The Canes upset Mississippi State in the Starkville regional. State will choke at home.
North Carolina State: The Wolfpack beat East Carolina on their home turf to win the regional. This is a sleeper team folks and not a huge upset in the Greenville Regional.
Stanford: The Cardinal get a scare from UC Santa Barbara but move on.
Clemson: The Tigers win the Oxford regional over Ole Miss who have no business hosting a regional with 25 regular season losses.
Arizona State: Call me crazy but I think ASU beats LSU in the Baton Rouge regional.
Tennessee: The Vols shock the Tar Heels in the Chapel Hill regional and move to the Supers.
Louisville: The Cardinals coast through the regional they host.
Oklahoma State: Solid baseball program that will win their home regional and move on.
Oregon State: The Beavers have a great baseball program and will have no problem at home.
Texas Tech: The Red Raiders are solid, but the committee sent Florida to Lubbock. Texas Tech advances.
Texas A&M: The Aggies win the Morgantown Regional and send West Virginia packing. Solid pitching for A&M
Super Regionals Best 2 of 3:
Vanderbilt hosts Texas A&M: SEC Matchup. The Commodores are thinking Omaha and National Championship. Vandy in 2
NC State at Louisville: Wolfpack wins in 3
Miami at Stanford: Canes have to travel too far and get swept in 2.
Tennessee at GT: Going to be a great Super. Give me the Jackets in 3.
Oregon State at UCLA: Pac-12 matchup. UCLA in 2.
Oklahoma State at Texas Tech: Big-12 matchup. Give me Oklahoma State in 3 in an upset.
Clemson at Arkansas: The Hogs beat Clemson in 2, and roll into Omaha.
Arizona State at Georgia: Dawgs pitching gets by the Sun Devils in 2.
College World Series Teams:
Vanderbilt
NC State
Stanford
Georgia Tech
UCLA
Oklahoma State
Arkansas
Georgia
Your 2019 National Champions: Vanderbilt. College baseball is a great game to watch.