Jared Jones’ early go-ahead homer helps send LSU to CWS bracket final with a 9-5 win over UCLA

OMAHA, Neb. (WVUE) - Jared Jones hit a go-ahead three-run homer before rain suspended play Monday night, freshman reliever Casan Evans pitched 4 1/3 shutout innings after play resumed Tuesday, and LSU advanced to its College World Series bracket final with a 9-5 victory over UCLA.

The Tigers (50-15) next play Wednesday night against the winner of Tuesday night’s elimination game between Arkansas and the Bruins (48-17). LSU, going for its second national championship in three years, needs one more win to reach the best-of-three finals starting Saturday.

LSU was up 5-3 at the end of the third inning Monday night when the game was suspended following a 2-hour, 53-minute delay.

The Tigers had Evans (5-1) take over for starter Anthony Eyanson when play resumed. Evans, who pitched the ninth inning of a 4-1 win over Arkansas on Saturday, limited UCLA to four singles and struck out five.

“Coach (Jay) Johnson had told me that once we got out of the delay that I would be on the mound, and then it got rolled over to today,” Evans said. “Just went back to the hotel and got ready for today. Woke up early. The mindset stays the same no matter when I come in the game, if I start or if I close. I was just going out there and doing my best to help my team win.”

UCLA had two runners on base with one out when Evans turned the game over to Cooper Williams in the eighth. The Tigers had to get through some anxious moments when Williams walked the bases loaded and the Bruins pulled to 8-5 on Payton Brennan’s groundout and Blake Balsz’s infield single. Another walk reloaded the bases, prompting Johnson to call on Chase Shores, who needed one pitch to get an inning-ending groundout.

Jones’ RBI single in the ninth gave the Tigers a four-run cushion, and Shores pitched a clean ninth to send the Bruins to their first loss in seven NCAA Tournament games.

“Just seemed like we were swimming upstream a little bit most of the game,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “Continuation game. We put up three and then they put up four. Then they come out and do a good job with two outs in the fourth, and they got two there. And it seemed like we were just trailing a little bit from the mound, mostly.”

It was challenging for Savage to manage his pitching. With a spot in the bracket final at stake, he didn’t hold back and used eight pitchers. A loss meant the Bruins had to play again in about six hours, so pitching depth was compromised.

“When you’re in the winners’ bracket, you’ve got to do everything you can to stay in the winners’ bracket,” Savage said. “Anybody who tells you otherwise doesn’t know what they’re talking about or has never coached. But I think we have some guys, clearly. We have about five or six guys that didn’t throw either yesterday or today. We’ll pick one, we’ll pick some guys out of that lot.”

The Tigers took a 7-3 lead in the fourth against freshman Wylan Moss, who gave up three hits and a walk and recorded only two outs.

UCLA starter Landon Stump (6-2) had gone to the mound for the bottom of the first Monday night with a 3-0 lead, but it evaporated when Jones’ three-run homer put the Tigers ahead 4-3.

Jones’ 21st homer of the season barely cleared the fence in right center and was the 63rd in his career, third most in program history.

“Offensively we just wanted to start the game on the right note,” Jones said. “We talk about winning every inning. Obviously they put up a three spot in the top half, so to win the inning we’ve got to put up at least four. And it just so happened.”

After over two hours of being delayed, the game was suspended. It will restart at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the top of the fourth inning.

Kade Anderson

The Tigers earned their first CWS win by defeating Arkansas 4-1 on Saturday night, led by a stellar performance from Madisonville native Kade Anderson. The lefty pitched seven innings, giving up just three hits and one earned run while striking out seven, bringing his season total to 170, the most in the nation.

“I mean it’s just a dream come true,” Anderson’s mother Karena says. “This is what we’ve always worked for. You just never actually dream or believe that it would happen to your son or even to you. It’s pretty amazing.”

Anderson, a former St. Paul’s standout, pitched 7.0 innings, only giving up one run to the Razorbacks. He finished the game with seven strikeouts, which made him the nation’s leader in strikeouts at 170 on the season.

“He’s such a competitor so for him to actually reach that... no words, just amazing,” Karena says. “So proud of him.”

His father, Eric, noted that Kade’s strikeout total places him third all-time in LSU history.

“He’s behind Skenes and McDonald, two of the greatest,” Eric says. “But the ones behind him, (Aaron) Nola, (Kevin) Gausman and all those guys, (Jared) Poche, just fantastic pitchers. To be up in that group alone is just amazing.”

Kade has always dreamed of pitching in Omaha. In fact, when he was growing up, he refused to come to the College World Series as a fan so that he would experience it for the first time as a player.

But those plans changed in 2023 after Kade’s senior year of high school, as he and his dad made the trip to see the Tigers face Florida in the championship series.

“We got into the spirit of it with the game Thursday night when we beat Wake Forest,” Eric says. “We were all jacked up. So we said let’s get the flights, and we booked it. We came up here. We were here for Saturday and Sunday, and we left. We had to be home for Monday. So we missed the final game, but it was an awesome experience.”

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Now, after witnessing the atmosphere in person last year, Anderson has taken the mound on college baseball’s biggest stage - and passed the test.

And while he was laser-focused on the mound, his mom was laser-focused in the stands, praying for Kade’s success.

“Every game is like that,” Karena says. “Every game, because every pitch matters. I pray not only for him to do well but for the umpire to see the pitch as what it’s supposed to be. I do pray for both because we rely on that umpire an awful lot, so we want that umpire to do a good job too.”

With his parents’ support, Anderson has grown immensely in his first two years at LSU.

Now the Madisonville native is expected to be a top-five pick in this summer’s MLB Draft.

And all along the journey, he’s made his hometown proud.

“The community, our text messages, our Facebook, the number of people we’ve touched through the years through baseball, I’ve coached baseball and basketball growing up so i get the kids that i coached at 7or 8 years old, they’re sending me messages,” Eric says. “Just unbelievable our community is so involved.”

Thanks to Anderson’s outing, LSU’s pitching staff is set up well for Monday’s game. The Tigers will hand the ball to Anthony Eyanson, a SoCal native who grew up just 45 minutes from the UCLA campus in Lakewood, Calif.

Eyanson, who transferred to LSU from UC San Diego, is very familiar with the Bruins’ West Coast small-ball style—a brand of baseball that works well in pitcher-friendly Charles Schwab Field.

“This is a full circle moment for me,” Eyanson said. “I grew up watching UCLA. A lot of my youth coaches were big Bruins fans.”

LSU and UCLA last faced each other in the College World Series 12 years ago, with the Bruins winning 2-1. Eyanson is hoping to help rewrite that history.

First pitch between LSU and UCLA is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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