2023 College Baseball World Series: LSU Wins Seventh National Title in Emphatic Fashion

The SEC’s Dominance On Display Yet Again in College Baseball World Series

The college baseball season came to an end with a bit of an anticlimactic finale. With the final game of the 2023 College Baseball World Series over almost before it started.

Louisiana State struck for six runs in the top of the second inning after Wyatt Langford gave Florida the early two-run lead. The top seven hitters in the LSU batting order combined for 20 hits, 14 runs, and 15 RBIs as LSU took the winner-take-all Game 3 by a score of 18-4. It was not the kind of result that was projected when looking at NCAA baseball scores.

It was LSU’s seventh College World Series title. SEC teams have now won the last four titles with Ole Miss winning in 2022, Mississippi State topping conference rival Vanderbilt in 2021, and Vanderbilt emerging victorious in 2019. There was no College World Series in 2020 as a result of the global pandemic. LSU finished the 2023 season with a 54-17 record and Florida ended up with the same record.

For the fourth time in the last 12 College World Series, the final two teams standing were both from the SEC. Now the focus will turn to next month’s MLB Draft.

A Look Back

Little did anybody know that the best game of the 2023 College Baseball World Series would be Game 1.

LSU’s Ty Floyd, who was 7-0 pitching exclusively out of the bullpen, struck out 17 hitters in eight innings and Tommy White hit the game-tying home run in the eighth inning before Cade Beloso’s go-ahead home run in the 11th inning.

Florida answered back in emphatic fashion with a 24-4 win as Langford had five hits and six RBIs, Jac Caglianone and Ty Evans each hit a pair of home runs in a 24-4 victory. The 24 runs were the most in a College World Series game, breaking a record that has stood since Notre Dame’s 23-run outburst in 1957 and matched by Arizona State against Oklahoma State in 1984. Barry Bonds was the star of that Arizona State team.

That set the stage for Monday’s game.

Catching A Draft

Teams picking at the top of the 2023 MLB Draft were keeping tabs on the 2023 College World Series as LSU outfielder Dylan Crews, LSU pitcher Paul Skenes and Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford are showing up in most mock drafts as the likely top three selections according to the baseball picks.

Skenes did not pitch in the series after a 120-pitch effort in a winner-take-all game against Wake Forest that got LSU into the championship series.

Crews were just 2-for-6 with three runs in the first two games before having four hits, including a triple, and three runs scored on Monday.

Langford finished 6-for-13 with two doubles, two home runs, five runs, and eight RBIs in the three World Series games.

Crews hit .426 with 100 runs, 16 doubles, 18 home runs, 71 walks, and six stolen bases in 71 games. Skenes was 12-2 with an ERA of 1.69 and 209 strikeouts in 122.2 innings.

Langford batted .373 with 88 runs, 28 doubles, 21 home runs, and 56 walks in 64 games.

Having the top three picks being college players is nothing new.

In 2018 Casey Mize of Auburn went to the Detroit Tigers with the top pick. Georgia Tech catcher Joey Bart was selected second by San Francisco and the Philadelphia Phillies picked Wichita State third baseman Alec Bohm third overall.

According to the Baseball Reference database, Stanford infielder Nico Hoerner (the 24th overall pick by the Chicago Cubs) and South Florida pitcher Shane McClanahan (pick No. 31 by Tampa Bay) are tied for the top wins over replacement mark at the Major League level.

Florida’s Jonathan India, who went fifth to Cincinnati, and Stetson’s Logan Gilbert, now a pitcher for the Seattle Mariners, are other college players taken in the first round of the 2018 draft who have made the transition to the majors rather well.

In 2020, the top seven selections were college players. The jury is still out on the top pick as Spencer Torkelson of the Detroit Tigers has a .210 career average.

In 2022, high school shortstop Jackson Holliday was the No. 1 overall selection. He has a .319 batting average and a .470 on-base percentage in 83 career games at the minor-league level.

The 2023 MLB Draft is set for July 9-11 in Seattle, Washington. The Pittsburgh Pirates have the top pick followed by the Washington Nationals and Detroit Tigers.

There is still plenty of talent returning to play college baseball led by Caglianone, Florida’s two-way star, and North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt.

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