LSU baseball comeback vs. Arkansas: How Tigers rallied at College World Series

Arkansas baseball was knocking on the door of forcing a winner-take-all semifinal game against LSU, holding a 5-3 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth inning.

The No. 6 Tigers had other plans, however, putting together a three-run rally, capped off by a walk-off hit from Jared Jones.

LSU earned its second win over the Razorbacks at the 2025 College World Series (the Tigers also beat Arkansas in the opening round of the tournament). Arkansas then fought through the loser’s bracket to reach the semifinals, and a win on Wednesday, June 18 would’ve forced a winner-take-all game to reach the national championship series on Thursday, June 19.

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This will be LSU’s second national title appearance in three seasons; it won the national championship in 2023 over Florida. The Tigers will face No. 13 Coastal Carolina, which hasn’t lost this postseason and is on a 26-game win streak.

Here’s how Arkansas blew its 5-3 lead in the College World Series semifinals, and how LSU took the game to reach the national championship:

How LSU baseball came back vs. Arkansas in College World Series

Things didn’t start off ideal for LSU, as leadoff hitter John Pearson struck out to start the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Tigers were facing Arkansas left-hander Cole Gibler, who entered the game with 56 strikeouts in 28⅔ innings. Derek Curiel got the rally started for LSU in the next at-bat, however, reaching base on a single before advancing to second on an error by Reese Robinett, who made an errant throw as Gibler attempted to cover the base.

That’s when the game started to unravel for Arkansas, giving LSU life. Ethan Frey drew a walk to put runners on first and second base with one out, with 3-hole hitter Steven Milam coming up to the plate.

Milam hit a grounder, which was fielded by Arkansas star shortstop Wehiwa Aloy. However, Aloy didn’t attempt to turn a game-ending double play, instead throwing out Curiel, the lead runner, at third base.

Luis Hernandez came through with a giant hit in the next at-bat, hitting a two-run double to left field to tie the game at 5-5. Arkansas left fielder Charles Davalan dove for the line drive, but missed the ball, resulting in two runs.

LSU then had a runner on second with two outs for Jared Jones, who had tied the game at 3-3 with a solo home run in his last at-bat in the eighth inning. Jones stayed hot in the ninth, delivering a game-winning single to center field to score Hernandez, resulting in a 6-5 win.

LSU was able to capitalize on Arkansas’ mistakes, from the throwing error that resulted in Curiel reaching base with one out, to Aloy passing up a potential double play and Davalan missing a would-be game-ending diving catch in left field.

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