LSU, Anderson shuts down Arkansas; pushes season to brink of elimination

Offense unable to get anything going against Tigers' ace, now have play for season Monday

Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Dave Van Horn watches action against the LSU Tigers during the first inning at Charles Schwab Field. / Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images

OMAHA, Neb. — LSU lefty ace Kade Anderson dominated the pitching matchup with Arkansas' Zach Root as the Tigers beat the Razorbacks in 4-1 to push the Hogs to the brink of elimination.

Root recorded just five outs before coach Dave Van Horn appeared from the dugout to pull his ace after just 38 pitches.

🗣️ YEAAAHHH@KadeAnderson32 | ESPN pic.twitter.com/UILH7UsXMy

— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) June 15, 2025

It was Root's shortest outing of the year after Root allowed five straight baserunners, despite only one ball leaving the infield.

Left fielder Derek Curiel came back from an 0-2 count to draw back-to-back walks to set the wheels in motion that led to Root's demise.

Root issued a four pitch walk to catcher Luis Hernandez after getting the first out.

LSU played station-to-station offense with an RBI bloop single, a bases loaded hit by pitch and an RBI groundout from the 8-9-1 spots in the order. It proved to be more than enough offense.

With designated hitter Ethan Frey due up, Van Horn opted to go get his starter instead of letting him face him a second time.

"Scoring a lot of runs against Anderson to me wasn't something that was going to happen," Van Horn said on the decision to pull Root. I hated to do it, but I just felt like it was the right decision. And I'll stand by it. It was the right decision."

Frey went 2-for-3 with a double and a homer off Root when the two teams met earlier in the year in Baton Rouge.

Stanny puts the Tigers in front!

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— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) June 14, 2025

Anderson used a pair of 5-4-3 double play balls to keep Anderson's pitch count under control and dominated the Arkansas lineup across seven innings of one-run ball.

The Razorbacks failed to get an at-bat with a runner in scoring position with Anderson on the mound. Anderson needed just 100 pitches to silence the Hogs offense.

The Razorback bats struck out seven times, grounded out eight times and flew out four times against Anderson.

Gaeckle picked up the slack for the Hogs on the mound with six innings of one run ball with 10 strikeouts, tied for the most ever by a Razorback in the College World Series.

"I just wanted to eat up some innings to save some guys because we've got a lot of games ahead of us," Gaeckle said. "Same mentality. We'll be back here in a few days."

Arkansas had no problem handling the power bat of first baseman Jared Jones, striking him out five times, but could never get the bats going.

The only blemish on Anderson's line was a leadoff homer from Reese Robinett in the sixth.

Robinett worked his way back from an 0-2 count to run the count full and wrap a ball just inside the foul pole down the right field line.

Get us going, Reese Rob! pic.twitter.com/0KfUn870Kl

— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) June 15, 2025

Curiel, who got on base three different times all from 0-2 counts, slapped a Cole Gibler slider into left field for a key insurance run in the eighth.

The run was charged to Gaeckle after Van Horn pulled him with two outs in the inning for the left-on-left matchup with Gibler.

Charles Davalan led off the ninth with a single. Wehiwa Aloy would have represented the tying run had Curiel not come through in the eighth.

Instead, the tying run never came to the plate and Ryder Helfrick ended the game with a routine groundout to short.

The Hogs now face a long road back to try and win its first national title. They face Murray State 1 p.m. Monday on ESPN in an elimination game. 22 of the 25 previous national champions have won their first game.

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