Anthony Eyanson on LSU's national championship: 'This is what I dreamed of'

LSU snapped Coastal Carolina‘s 26-game winning streak heading into the Men’s College World Series Final and won back-to-back games, claiming its eighth National Championship in program history.

The Tigers were fueled by their younger players, including freshman outfielder Derek Curiel, sophomore shortstop Steven Milam, sophomore left-handed pitcher Kade Anderson, sophomore right-handed pitcher Chase Shores and junior right-handed pitcher Anthony Eyanson.

Eyanson, who pitched to a 12-2 record with a 3.00 ERA and 152 strikeouts in 108 innings this season, pitched the first 6 1/3 innings in Sunday’s clincher. He allowed seven hits and three earned runs with nine strikeouts, setting the Tigers up nicely to cement another title for the sport’s premiere program.

“I remember hugging my parents right now with the natty hat and shirt on,” Eyanson said. “When I dreamed about this place — and even on my visit, looking at all the history on the wall, this is what I dreamed literally — throwing pitches, starting the game for the final game of the national championship. Just super grateful for coach [Jay] Johnson giving me the opportunity, and thankful for God, obviously.”

Eyanson formed deadly 1-2 punch with Kade Anderson

Eyanson and left-handed pitcher Kade Anderson formed a dominant 1-2 punch at the top of the LSU starting rotation, holding the Chanticleers to just three earned runs on 10 hits with 19 strikeouts in the Men’s College World Series Final. During the ESPN broadcast, the duo were ranked among the best 1-2 punches in Men’s College World Series play of all time, joining Vanderbilt‘s Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker and Rice‘s Jeff Niemann and Wade Townsend.

“We’ve been tested all year,” Eyanson said postgame. “I was just waiting for adversity to hit me in the game. Right when that happened I knew that’s when I put my pedal to the metal and pushed a little more, pushed a little bit more, and just continue to fight for the team. And knowing I got guys behind me that, obviously we just won this thing, so they’re pretty good at baseball. But they just did their job behind me. So super grateful for that.”

The Lakewood, CA native is a projected Second Round pick in ESPN’s latest 2025 MLB Mock Draft.

Johnson: ‘he deserved to be on the mound for the winner’

“Anthony kind of tricked me a little bit in the fall,” Johnson said with Eyanson by his side. “But now I get it. Like, he knew he was good, and he was kind of pacing himself for this run, then we don’t win the championship without him. And it got maybe overshadowed a little bit by Kade [Anderson] but he won 12 games, too. That’s a lot in today’s college baseball. Wins the first game of the NCAA tournament. Closes out the regional final. Grinds out a win in the super. Gets us off to a good start against UCLA. And wins the national championship game.

“I could tell pretty quick it was going to go good for him. He deserved to be on the mound for the winner.”