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LSU's Curiel, Evans named First-Team Freshmen All-Americans

On3 imageby: Matthew Brune06/11/25MatthewBrune_
Casan Evans LSU
Casan Evans LSU

LSU outfielder Derek Curiel and right-handed pitcher Casan Evans have been named by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) as 2025 First-Team Freshman All-Americans.

Curiel, a native of West Covina, Calif., is batting a team-high .347 (83-for-239) this season with 19 doubles, two triples, seven homers, 52 RBI and 64 runs. He is also LSU’s leading hitter through its first six games of the NCAA Tournament, batting .455 (10-for-22) with three doubles, one homer, seven RBI and 10 runs.

Curiel, a second-team All-SEC and Freshman All-SEC selection, was voted to the 2025 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional All-Tournament Team, batting .400 (6-for-15) in four games with two doubles, two RBI and four runs.

He posted a 43-game reached base safely streak from February 14-April 26, marking the fifth-longest on record in the annals of LSU baseball.

Curiel was named SEC Freshman of the Week on April 28 after leading LSU to a series win over Tennessee (April 25-27), batting .417 (5-for-12) in the series with two doubles, one homer, three runs and six RBI.

Evans, a product of Houston, Texas, is 4-1 on the year with a 1.90 ERA and six saves in 47.1 innings (17 appearances). He has logged 19 walks and 65 strikeouts, and opponents are hitting just .225 against him.

A 2025 finalist for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award, he delivered one of the greatest postseason outings in LSU Baseball history on June 2 in the Tigers’ NCAA Baton Rouge Regional championship game win over Little Rock.

Evans entered the game in the second inning and limited Little Rock to one run on four hits in 6.0 innings with three walks and a career-best 12 strikeouts. He threw a career-high 109 pitches, 71 for strikes.

Evans struck out nine straight Little Rock batters, beginning with the second out of the fourth inning through the first out of the seventh inning.

*LSU press release

Jay Johnson on knowing Derek Curiel since he was in seventh grade and how important his father and brother have been…

“Yeah, it’s huge. It was a big part of the allure, too. I mean, I want to say I started recruiting him during COVID, like really started. And it was only Zoom calls because you couldn’t visit campuses. But it was the whole family huddled around the table. Brother’s a player asking me hitting questions. Dad’s talking about, ‘This is what we do.’ And then you go and you watch him play, and it’s just like the feel for the game was just so advanced, so advanced. I mean, I was laughing the other night. My dad was here and on the field, and him and Rick Curiel are hugging each other. And I’m like, ‘This is unbelievable.’ It’s five-and-a-half years later, like we’ve been waiting for this for a long time. So now we’re going to Omaha together. It’s pretty cool.”

Story with all of his quotes before the CWS

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