Kade Anderson leads LSU to a 4-1 win over Arkansas.

Kade Anderson started and teamed with two relievers to hold Arkansas to a single run (LSU Sports photo)

By Andrew Riedell

As the sun set in Omaha on Saturday night, fans filed into Charles Schwab Field to watch the only two SEC teams, and highest remaining seeds, in the Men's College World Series field face off in the opening round. The shadows were already out, and the stars also came out throughout the game, as 25,454 were treated to a matchup between two of the best pitchers in the SEC, Arkansas tabbing Zach Root and LSU going with Kade Anderson.

Both teams were held scoreless in the first inning, as Root made quick work of the LSU lineup, including the first of five strikeouts in an 0-5 night for Jared Jones. It was in the second inning when LSU got to Root, with back to back walks to Luis Hernandez and Derek Curiel followed by Daniel Dickinson's perfectly-placed bunt that produced no throw and loaded up the bases.

Chris Stanfield--who Jay Johnson said at Media Day has been a "home run addition" to the LSU program after transferring from Auburn last summer--dropped a single into left field that gave LSU a 1-0 lead.

After Michael Braswell was hit and Josh Pearson reached on a fielder's choice, it elicited head coach Dave Van Horn to the mound and a call to the bullpen. An early pulling of Root brought in Gabe Gaeckle, who had faced LSU in May, pitching 3 1/3 innings but giving up the winning run in a 4-3 extra inning loss. Gaeckle got out of the jam easily and settled into dominating the LSU lineup, but he is not the story here.

Anderson was the story on this night, a dominating 100-pitch outing that likely locked him in as a Top 5 draft pick in the MLB Draft at Atlanta next month. Anderson went seven innings, allowing only three three hits and one run, a solo shot by Reese Robinett.

Anderson was able to command his changeup, slider, and curveball, then attack with his fastball as he was able to keep one of the hottest offenses in college baseball at bay, even after facing them a month ago.

Asked for his takeaways after facing the Hogs just last month, Kade had this to say: "I take every outing with a grain of salt, just looking to prepare for the next one. Obviously, you look back a little bit, but every week is different." Anderson then handed the keys to Chase Shores in the 8th inning after a lead off single, and Shores was able to come in and attack the Arkansas hitters his own way, a fastball sitting 100-101 and with some ridiculous horizontal and vertical movement. Casan Evans finished up for the night.

With LSU pitching in the limelight of this game, Tiger bats were quiet outside of Stanfield's hit that broke the scoring ice and Derek Curiel's RBI single. In fact, they struck out 16 times, 10 of them after Gaeckle's entrance and spectacular relief job.

LSU head coach Jay Johnson had this to say about striking out 16 times and still winning: "I've seen it before here. If there's a pitching staff that is capable of doing that to our team, it's the one we just faced. I'm proud of my team for fighting our way to a win."

LSU moves into a familiar winners' bracket position just like 2023, which saw them then lose to Wake Forest. But, this time they will face a UCLA team on Monday night that just knocked off Murray State 6-4. Anthony Eyanson will most likely get the ball for LSU.

For Arkansas, they now take on Murray State on Monday afternoon in an elimination game. Gage Wood will most likely get the ball to start, but it will be all-hands-on-deck since Root threw just 38 pitches before the second inning exit. Asked how he approaches the losers' bracket, head coach Dave Van Horn said, "You just can't get all uptight about it. These guys, they've come back and won games. They've done some great things this year. We need to move on and get ready for Monday."

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