LSU's previous five national champions

1991

In Its fifth CWS appearance, LSU won the school’s first national championship by bombing Florida 8-1, Fresno State 15-4 and then Florida 19-8 to take on Wichita State in the final. A home run by Armando Rios helped the Tigers jump to a four-run lead after four innings. Solid pitching by Chad Ogea and Rick Greene secured the 6-3 victory.

1993

With LSU celebrating 100 years of its program and starting the season with a No. 1 ranking, the Tigers got coach Skip Bertman’s second CWS title. Mike Sirotka turned in a heroic effort in a 6-5 win over Long Beach State to send the Tigers into the final against Wichita State again. This time, Brett Laxton set a CWS record with 16 strikeouts in an 8-0 win.

1996

Warren Morris engraved his name and that of the Tigers on the CWS with his dramatic two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth for the 9-8 win over Miami. LSU rallied for two runs in each of the last three innings to give the Tigers a 4-0 CWS record. It was the first time in CWS history that a champion was decided on a game-ending home run.

1997

For the fourth time in the 1990s, the Tigers planted LSU in the middle of Rosenblatt Stadium, and Baseball America anointed LSU the “Team of the Decade.” The Tigers hit 10 homers, the first of them by NCAA leader Brandon Larson in a 5-4 win over Rice. Larson finished the season with 40 homers, and LSU belted Alabama 13-6 in the title game.

2000

LSU completed a comeback for its fifth title when catcher Brad Cresse drove home Ryan Theriot with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth in a 6-5 victory over Stanford. Blair Barbier triggered a three-run rally in the eighth to tie the game. LSU defeated three storied programs, Texas (13-5), Southern Cal (10-4) and Florida State (6-3) to reach the final.