This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
OMAHA, Neb. – It was the most clutch hit of Jared Jones’ career as an LSU Tiger.
With the game tied 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth, Jones lined a ball off the glove of Arkansas second baseman Cam Kozeal and into center field, sending Luis Hernandez home with the winning run and sending the Tigers to the College World Series final for the second time in three years.
JARED JONES WALKS IT OFF AND LSU ADVANCE TO THE MEN’S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES FINALS
pic.twitter.com/sIZW7kA4tv— MLB Walk Offs & Game Winning Plays (@MLBWalk_Offs) June 19, 2025
But, it would seem, everyone else knew that Jones had etched his name into LSU baseball lore before he did.
“I thought he had caught it, honestly, cuz it kind of fell in behind him,” Jones said. “But then once I saw the ball hit the grass, man, I was just blacked out in the moment. I was celebrating with my teammates.”
With the win, LSU improves to 51-15 and advances to the best-of-three championship series, where they will face the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Saturday night at 7 p.m. EDT in game one, while Arkansas finishes the season 50-15.
“Tonight, I said this, literally probably two years ago to the day, the walk-off homer, by Tommy [White] against Wake Forest, like I felt something in my body I’ve never felt before. Greatest moment of my life and it now has a tie for first with the ninth inning,” said LSU head coach Jay Johnson.
Though the game was punctuated with a chaotic ending, it started out as a pitcher’s duel, with LSU’s Zac Cowan and Arkansas’s Landon Beidenschies dueling through five innings.
Arkansas’s Ryder Helfrick led off the top of the fourth by launching the first pitch from Cowan over the wall in center field for his 15th homer of the year, giving the Hogs a 1-0 lead.
LSU starter Zac Cowan left in the sixth, having thrown 5 1/3 innings and allowing four hits and one run on the homer be Wehiwa Aloy, yielding the mound to Jaden Noot.
“I thought Zac could be successful in this game, successful enough to give us a chance to win late. And he was a starter last year, so he had extended,” Johnson said of his starter. “He got us probably three more outs than I thought he would, which was huge.”
Arkansas cruised into the sixth, riding five shutout innings from starter Landon Beidenschies, but in the bottom of the sixth, Ethan Frey led off with a double, and Steven Milam was hit by a pitch, giving the Tigers runners at first and second with no outs.
Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn brought in Gabe Gaeckel to face Luis Hernandez, who advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt to the left side.
After Jared Jones struck out, Josh Pearson drew an intentional walk to load the bases with two outs. Jake Brown, pinch hitting for Chris Stanfield, doubled into left center, scoring Frey and Milam and giving LSU a 2-1 lead.
Chase Shores came in to the game, replacing Noot with one out in the top of the seventh, but ran into a jam in the eighth. After allowing a single to Justin Thomas Jr., Charles Davalan hit into a fielder’s choice. Wehiwa Aloy followed with a single, and Shores hit Logan Maxwell with a pitch to load the bases with one out.
Ryder Helfrick’s chopper to third was handled by LSU’s Michael Braswell III, who sent the ball to second, but the relay throw from Daniel Dickinson to first baseman Jared Jones popped out of his glove and into foul territory, allowing Davalan and Aloy to score, giving the Razorbacks a 3-2 lead.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Jared Jones launched Gaeckel’s first offering opposite field into the right field stands for his 22nd homer of the year, a solo shot just over the 375-foot marker on the wall that tied the game at three.
“I haven’t been seeing Gaeckel very well this week. Struck me out like five times, I think, in five at-bats. And it was all on sliders,” Jones said. “And my approach is always to be on time for a fastball. And I was lucky enough to get one in the zone and put a good swing on it.”
A one-out single by Reese Robinett followed by a double to left center by Brent Iredale gave Arkansas runners at second and third with one out in the top of the ninth, prompting Jay Johnson to bring in Jacob Mayers to replace Shores.
On Mayers’ first pitch, Justin Thomas Jr. ripped a liner into left field for a single, scoring Robinett and Iredale to give the Razorbacks a 5-3 lead.
Incredibly clutch hitting by Savannah native Justin Thomas Jr. with this 2-RBI single in the top of the 9th.
His 8 hits in Omaha are tied for the most in this year’s CWS. Big time stuff from the former @TheBC400 starpic.twitter.com/MItuhmgRaP
— Pat Timlin (@pat_timlin) June 19, 2025
But it was not to last.
In the bottom of the ninth, Derek Curiel reached on a one-out single and took second when the throw from first baseman Reese Robinett to pitcher Cole Gibler, who was running to cover first, was off the mark. A walk to Ethan Frey gave the Tigers runners at first and second.
Steven Milam hit into a fielder’s choice at short, and Wehiwa Aloy threw to third for the force play.
With the Tigers down to their last out, Luis Hernandez lifted a fly ball to left field, and as Razorbacks left fielder Charles Davalan attempted to slide to make the catch, he lost his footing, and the ball hit his shoulder and went to the corner, allowing Frey and Milam to score to tie the game at five apiece.
TIGERS TIE IT IN THE NINTH 🤯
Luis Hernandez hits a game tying double for @LSUbaseball.
(🎥@NCAABaseball)
pic.twitter.com/5BVbN0HPu7— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) June 19, 2025
Van Horn then took Gibler out in favor of Aidan Jimenez to face Jared Jones. With a 2-1 count, Jones hit a screaming liner second base. Arkansas second baseman Cam Kozeal leapt, and the ball hit off his glove and squirted into center field, allowing Hernandez to come home with the winning run.
“They brought in Jimenez, and he’s a great pitcher,” Jones said. “Gotta respect his slider, and I was able to just kind of stay on it and do just enough to get it over the second baseman’s head.”
With the ball on the outfield grass, the Tigers ran on the field to celebrate with the strains of Garth Brooks’ “Callin’ Baton Rouge” reverberating through Charles Schwab Field.
“And what a game. I mean, I don’t know if they do college baseball games or is ESPN Classic. Is that still around?” Jay Johnson asked rhetorically during the postgame press conference. If so, “they should play that game on loop for a week.”
WBN NCAA: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
Photo: Jared Jones (hatless) celebrates with teammates after his single drove in the game-winning run to send the LSU Tigers to the 2025 College World Series final. (Photo via @LSUBaseball on X)
