Kade Anderson shares how he overcame key moments in CWS shutout

LSU starting left-handed pitcher Kade Anderson‘s legacy grew even stronger Saturday night, as the projected No. 1 pick in the upcoming MLB Draft threw the first College World Series complete game shutout since 2018 in a 1-0 win over Coastal Carolina.

Everything went Anderson’s way, as he allowed just three hits while striking out 10 batters over the nine inning span. 83 of his 130 (!) pitches were strikes. Thanks to his performance, his hometown Tigers are just one win away from their eighth National Championship in program history.

Anderson walked five batters, plunked Coastal catcher Caden Bodine twice and allowed four Chanticleer baserunners to reach second base. None of these baserunners however were able to reach third or score. The sophomore addressed dancing around those miscues postgame.

“Yeah, just really focusing on the next pitch,” Anderson said. “It wasn’t pretty, but got the job done. Just like I said, just putting the team in a situation to win. Sometimes the staff we have is just — all you need is one run sometimes. And coach [Jay] Johnson prepares us to be one-run ready.”

Jay Johnson says Anderson is who you’d want on the mound in the ninth

LSU‘s lone run scored all the way back in the bottom of the first inning, as Derek Curiel drew a walk to open the frame and was driven home by a Steven Milam RBI-single. The run support wasn’t there for Anderson, but it didn’t let it stop him from leading his team to a massive win.

“I think as far as the pitching with traffic, I think I heard [UCLA] coach [John] Savage say it earlier this week, it’s the College World Series,” head coach Jay Johnson said postgame. “You’re going to pitch with runners on base. It’s the best teams in the country, and that’s one of the best teams in the country. They do a great job of finding their way on base. And they did a few times tonight.”

“He told me in the third inning, I just went down to say a little something to him, and he’s, like, ‘I’ll settle in’. And I was, like, nobody knows that better than me. He had an outing very similar to this and I saw some commonalities in that. When we were at Oklahoma, we had a 10-pitch inning in the seventh and then two quick outs, really quick outs, maybe within three or four pitches in the eighth. I felt like they weren’t seeing him, they weren’t picking him up. I know the human being. That’s who you want on the mound in the ninth.”

Anderson has been a buzzsaw in the NCAA Tournament, as he’s held opponents to just seven earned runs with 35 strikeouts over 30 innings of work.

LSU can close out the Men’s College World Series Final with a win on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 pm CT.