What He Said: LSU Baseball's Jared Jones Breaks Down Walk-Off to Beat Arkansas

LSU first baseman Jared Jones smacked a walk-off single on Wednesday night to help the Tigers take down the Arkansas Razorbacks 6-5 at Charles Schwab Field in the College World Series semifinals.

Jones, who went 0-for-5 with a handful of strikeouts last Saturday against the Razorbacks, bounced back on Wednesday to help catapult the Tigers to the National Championship series.

Now, the stage is set. The LSU Tigers will take on the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers this weekend in Omaha with a title on the line at Charles Schwab Field.

Jones took the podium following Wednesday's thriller to breakdown what went right down the stretch for the Bayou Bengals.

What He Said: Jared Jones Edition

Q. Jared, take us through the at-bats, the home run and the final at-bat of the game?

JARED JONES: I hadn't been seeing Gaeckle very well this week. He struck me out five times I think in five at-bats. It was all on sliders. My approach is always to be on time for a fastball. I was lucky enough to get one in the zone and put a good swing on it to tie the game there in the ninth.

They brought in Jimenez. He's a great pitcher. Gotta respect his slider and was able to stay on it and do just enough to get it over the second baseman's head. That's about it.

Q. Everybody in the nation is going to see the game-winning hit, also the home run. But college baseball circles, a video of you talking with coach Jay Johnson, got a little buzz. What went into that conversation because afterwards you've come up in some really big spots for this team?

JARED JONES: Coach Johnson and I have had several heart-to-heart conversations throughout my career here at LSU. Most of the time it's been behind closed doors. Sometimes I wish the media wouldn't see that kind of stuff because you almost put so much into it that when it doesn't work out and if -- then what, you know?

I spent so much time and effort in through this sport throughout my life. My parents have sacrificed so much to get me to this point. And my teammates, I was up sixth or seventh in the ninth inning, so there had to be a lot that had to go right for us to put me in that position. I'm just super grateful for it all. And wouldn't have it any other way.

Q. Luis, Jay has talked about you being the unsung hero often this year. Speak to that at-bat you had. I know you're busy running, but what were your thoughts and what the night meant for you?

LUIS HERNANDEZ: I wasn't looking for off-speed because all day they thrown me off-speed, change-ups and slider in. So, I was looking for off-speed, that I could handle it, and he left it in the middle, and I drove it to left field.

Q. What did you see?

LUIS HERNANDEZ: I think it was a change-up. And whenever he didn't grab it, I started running.

Q. Jared, you hit the ball there for the walk-off. Were you watching it? Did you see it tip off the second baseman's glove? What was your emotion when you saw that?

JARED JONES: I did see that. I thought he had caught it honestly because it fell in behind him. But once I saw the ball hit the grass, I just blacked out in the moment, just celebrating with my teammates. Super grateful.

Q. Zac, two of your better outings this season have come against Arkansas, regular season and tonight. What were you able to do successfully against their lineup both times?

ZAC COWAN: I think it's mainly sticking with the same mindset and trusting Coach Yeskie. Defense made great plays behind me tonight. It was in the same case earlier in the year against Arkansas.

Nothing really changed for me honestly. It's just attacking, sticking with the same mindset and trying to compete.

Q. What Jared said earlier, I know you didn't have the last half of the season you wanted to have. What does it mean to have the success and give your team such a great outing?

ZAC COWAN: It means the world. It means the world when I have the trust from the coaching staff like I do and the defense behind me. And, yeah, like the second half, last half of the season didn't obviously go as planned, but it's going out there and competing every time I'm out there.

JAY JOHNSON: There were a couple outings didn't go as planned. This guy was the best reliever in college baseball this year.

Q. Luis and Jared, you come up there at the end of the game with two outs. Talk me through your approach there to do what you have to do when your backs' against the ultimate wall?

LUIS HERNANDEZ: Like I said, I was looking for offspeed. And he leave the change-up in the middle and I drove it to left field.

JARED JONES: Just kind of been here before. We've had a lot of these games throughout the season of, whether we've had to fight back from being down or team ties it up late, we've kind of stuck with it no matter what.

There's no clock in baseball. There's 27 outs. With our offense it's a tough ask to do. Happy Luis got the job done. And I'm happy I was able to drive him in.

Q. Zac, in Coach's opening statement he mentioned a little bit about his prep work going into facing possibly you when you played in the NCAA tournament last year. Can you detail your recruitment to LSU? And also when did you figure out you were going to get the ball first in today's game?

ZAC COWAN: Going into the portal last year I had no idea I'd end up here. I couldn't be more thankful for this guy to be my head coach and for the guys to be around me that I have around me.

And I kind of found out last night that I was going to get the ball today.

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