President Trump Participates in a Visit with the LSU and LSU Shreveport Baseball Champions

Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the.

United states, accompanied by lsu tigers head coach jeh johnson and lsu shreveport pilots.

Head coach brad neffendorf.

What a good looking group of people. Wow.

It's great.

Two pretty good coaches, right? Absolutely. I'd say so. A lot of good coaches up here. Well, I want to thank you. It's a special. It's a special place to me, a special state. As you know, we won it by, what, 36 points or some ridiculous numbers like that. And so when I was asked to do this, I said, this is my honor. Please sit down. We'll have a little fun. Okay. Thank you all very much. Great group of people. This place is crowded. You got a lot of fans. Who do you think is going to make it into the major leagues? Raise your hand if you feel good. I guarantee a lot of them. When you hear about their records and their conquests, I want to just begin by saying that we're joined today, two collegiate championship baseball teams from the great state of Louisiana. Two teams that were absolutely the top. Both of these teams brought incredible pride and grit and glory to their schools, for the state. And today they are bringing that same Louisiana spirit to a place called the White House. Has anyone heard of it? Huh? You know, we're building. Right behind us, we're building a ballroom. They've wanted a ballroom for 150 years. And I'm giving that honor to this wonderful place. I think we should do it. This was the ballroom, and this room holds 88 people. And the new one will hold 999 people, which is a difference. I say 999 because I didn't want to crack a thousand. I didn't want people to get concerned because that's getting big. But we're going to have. We'll have the most beautiful ballroom in the country. It's going. And if, for those that are interested, we got to get back to baseball. But you see the gold drapes? That's a knockout panel. We knock it in, you go, that comes out, and then you have essentially, glass and. Exactly. In the decor of the White House. I didn't know I'd be standing here right now, because right on the other side, you have a lot of construction going on, which you might hear periodically. But that's a knockout panel, and that goes right into the ballroom. And the ballroom is going to be beautiful. So you'll have drinks, cocktails, everything on this floor, and then they'll say, welcome to dinner. You walk into the ballroom, Mr. Senators, and you're going to see a ballroom the likes of which I don't think will. I don't think it will be topped. It'll be. It'll be the finest. So it's going to be a lot of fun. It just started and it just started today, so that's good luck. We want the same luck that they had and the same talent. But I'm thrilled to welcome the 2025 NCAA College World Series Champions. That's pretty good. The Louisiana State University Tigers. So where are you guys? And of course, we have the 2025 NAIA baseball national champions. National champions, the LSU Shreveport Pilots. So those two teams, you'll hear about them in a second. And I want to thank the Tigers head coach, Jeh Johnson, who I just met. These are great coaches who led the team to its second championship win in just three years. And also is the LSU Shreveport head coach Brad Neffendorf, who is the College Baseball Foundation's 2025 Coach of the Year. Not bad. I think we should bring them into government. They don't need the baseball. We can bring them into government. We could definitely use them. We're also honored to be joined by the incredible duo from Louisiana, Speaker Mike Johnson. As you know, Mike is phenomenal. The job he's doing is phenomenal. And House Majority Leader Steve Scalitze, a very brave man. A very brave man. Hi, Steve. Two great guys. You know, Steve is very brave, though. He was. He was badly hurt and they put him at second base. Did you ever hear of Bobby Richardson? He had great depth, he had great range. He could go all over. He was with the Yankees for many years, and I don't know, he came from around your area, I think. Bobby Richardson, his second baseman for the Yankees for many years, so he was known for unbelievable. He could. He'd field balls at shortstop when they were hit. He was great. And when Steve was so badly injured, you know about that. Nobody ever really suffered like that. We thought. We thought he was a goner, actually. I went to the hospital that night, but he came back and a few months later, he's standing at second base and he was having a hard time moving. I wouldn't say he had Bobby Richardson's reins. Do you agree with that? And he was having a little bit of a hard time. He was coming at. It was really a very bad experience for him. So he's standing in the stadium over here, the Washington Stadium, and a ball is smashed to him. The first pitch of the game, he's at second base. And he wasn't looking to be a Hero. And he dropped to his knees and he stopped. And that was a hard hit. This happened from God. The first pitch of the game, it's ripped. You know what I'm talking about, Mr. Governor. The ball is ripped to him. Hard ground ball. He falls to his knees, he blocks it, he grabs it, he throws it. Diverse. They got him out. Nobody could believe it. Nobody could believe it. And they immediately took him out of the game. Because there was going to be no way, right? There was no way you were going to top it. It can only go down from there. Right, Steve And I said this is amazing, but it was, it was really something. We're also pleased to be joined by two wonderful people. Senators, your senators, Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy. Thank you both for being here. Appreciate it very much. Very, very much. A lot of good political people in that state. It's been known for politics, I think I would say politics. Baseball and football. A little bit of football too, right? Representative Julia Letlow. Julia. Hi, Julia, how are you? Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, who we had a lot of luck with. Right. You won that campaign. It was beautiful. And his wife Sharon. Thank you very much. Hi, Sharon. Nice to see you. Sharon. And all of the other Louisiana fans and politicians. You have so many political leaders. I want to just thank you all for being here. It's a great, it's a great tribute to this team, to these two great teams. Very rare that you have two teams in one room. You might have them, but they're not from the same state. What is it with baseball? What is that, coach? What do you figure that is? Just has it right. Pretty good. I tell you. This is pretty amazing. Two amazing seasons, two incredible teams to celebrate. So let's start with the Tigers. Okay. Throughout their 2025 season, the LSU Tigers delivered some of the most electrifying moments in the history of college baseball and ended with a phenomenal record of 53 wins and just 15 losses. That's pretty good. They'd like to have that in the major leagues. You finished the year with an eight game win streak and a two game series sweep against Coastal Carolina in the College World Series finals to take the title. That's the eighth national baseball title in LSU history. That's amazing, actually. That's. Now. LSU's pitching staff was the best in the conference, leading the nation with 760 strikeouts. Kate Anderson was ranked college baseball's number one player on the mount. I would like to represent him. I'm leaving the White House immediately. Oh, the money. Somebody is going to make some Where's Cade? Where is Kate? Well, you kid. Come here, Kate. Boy, oh, boy, would I like to be doing that, huh? 180 strikeouts. That's a lot. That's almost a record. In game one of the championships, he pitched a complete game shutout, preventing Coastal Carolina from scoring, even though they had one of the best offensive teams in all of baseball. Even a single run they couldn't get. So it's no wonder he was named the College World Series Most Outstanding Player. Cade. Thank you very much, Cade. And it's great to have you at the White House. We like winners at the White House, Cade. To advance to the regional championship, LSU faced Dallas Baptist, supposed to be a great team. And outfielder Chris Stanfield was, they say, unstoppable. He built an early game momentum with a second inning home run, contributed multiple RBIs and brought in an additional run with a sacrifice ground out at the end of the game. And you ended up winning the game. So I think your last sacrifice didn't matter too much because they won the game 12 to nothing. That's not too bad. Where are you? Where are you? Well, look at this guy, huh? Is he that good of playing? Is he good? Pretty good, huh? That's a good team. So to advance through the regional championship, lsu. And if you look at it, LSU has turned out to be named one of the best teams over the last 10 years, according to the experts, of which there are many, but most of them can't play very well. Right? Back in Baton Rouge, you had a tense game one on the Super Regional west against West Virginia with a full court in a fifth inning, a full count in the fifth inning, the bases were loaded and sophomore shortstop Steven Milam launched the ball deep over right center field, securing a grand Islam and adding four runs to the numbers already up substantially. West Virginia began to mount to come back in the sixth, but Josh Pearson smashed another grand slam over the wall, carrying the Tigers to victory. So, Josh, where are you and where. Let's see. Malum. Malum. Where is Malum? These guys are very strong, strong hands. I'm noticing, you know, they're ripping me, they're ripping my hand up. These are strong people. You don't hit those home runs without strong, beautiful hands. You agree with that? Mr. Speaker, how was your baseball? Okay, not bad. Not quite as good. First baseman Jared Jones had one of the most iconic outings of the season during the June 14, my birthday, College World Series. Thank you very much. Thank you. Flag Day. That was Flag Day. You know that, right? Against the Arkansas Razorbacks after knocking a home run out of the park earlier in the game. Jared walked up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the score was tied. And they looked like he could be in trouble. And a runner was in second with a 21 count. He hit a line drive up the middle, giving the Tigers enough time to rack up a six run, sending them straight to the finals. And the rest is history. You know what happened. Ten players of this elite squad are now headed to even greater glory in the Major League Baseball. I think you're going to do all right. I would like to represent every single one. No, I mean, the team must be incredible. Kate Anderson was drafted by the Seattle Mariners. So I think. Aren't they playing a big game tonight or something like that? Are you going to be watching that? I think so. You better be watching. That's. I'm so busy. I don't get to watch baseball too much. I did watch the other night, however, I turned on and there happened to be a Japanese player who was not bad. He was one of the best pitchers I've ever seen, one of the best hitters I've ever seen. And that all makes for a nice contract. He's pretty good, right? Pretty amazing when you think they say one of the best games ever played because you had pitching and hitting with the same guy. Pretty exciting. Chase Shores was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels. Where's Chase? Where's Chase? Good. Wow. Nice, big, tall guy. Very good. Good. Anthony Ionson and Jacob Meyers were drafted by the Boston Red Sox. Boy, you have good. Where is Anthony? Is Anthony here? Anthony, Right here. Good luck, huh? Good team. Good team. And Ethan Frey was drafted by the Houston Ashow. It's another good team. They win a lot, right? Where is he? Where is that guy, huh? Good luck, huh? You feel confident? Daniel Dickerson were drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers. Where's Daniel? Congratulations. Good luck, huh? Jared Jones was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jared, congratulations. John. And Cade woods, who's not present, who wanted to be here so badly, had a problem, was drafted by the Atlanta Braves. That's fantastic. I mean, that's a lot of. That's a lot of talent. By the way, we have somebody here who was drafted in another sport, number one at everything. He was never drafted. Number two or three. The great Herschel Walker is here. I understand. Where's Herschel? Where's Herschel? Come here, come here, come here, come here. Hersh, I'm not sure that LSU loves this guy, but they do respect him. There's nobody like, come here. You want to say a couple of words about baseball? Go ahead. Hello. How you doing? I saw him sitting out there. I said, come on, Ernie.

You know, I absolutely love this president, but I didn't ask him to put me on the spot. But anyway, I just want to just tell the players, continue to have that determination that you had in baseball carried.

Throughout your life, because things may get.

Tough, but remember, you can always get.

Up, no matter, whatever happens.

Gets up and continues to fight, fight, fight.

So, Conor, we're. Thanks, Hershel. What a player he was, huh? Oh, boy. Couldn't stop him. He'd go around you, but if he couldn't go around you, because he just was, he'd go right through you. And he'd carry four guys on his back for as much as he needed. Nobody better. I think maybe the best in history in college. And he had a great career in the NFL, too, and he's a great person. And now he's going to be the ambassador. Come on, name the country, Herschel. He's going to be in the tough job. That's a tough job, right? We'd like to have that job a little bit. We'll leave. We're leaving tonight. Connor Ware was drafted by the New York Mets. Connor, where are you? Connor. Boy, that's a hell of a team. And Luis Hernandez will be joining the Minnesota Twins organization. So I just want to congratulate.

Louis.

Where are you? Louis? Congratulations. I've never seen a team with so many people being drafted into the major leagues. They cannot be a bad team. In fact, I think your record should have been better. That's a hell of a record. So we also have a second amazing team with a big win to celebrate today, the LSU Shreveport Pilots. This year, the Pilots became the first and only college baseball team in history to go a full season, totally undefeated. You have. That's not bad. Well, I want these two teams to play. You want to do it? I'll do it. We'll get the stadium. I'll pay for it. What the hell. But you had an astounding record of 59 wins and no losses. What the hell is with that? It's. In baseball, you know, normally you have, like, a little bad luck. You lose a game or two. That's. That's pretty good. What you have to say that. He did a good job. Pretty darn good. He did a good job. Congratulations. Two great coaches. Two great people, too. You also became the first team in the history of LSU Shreveport to bring home a national title. Head coach Brad Knifendorf deserves a special recognition. The Pilots have been in every NAIA national tournament over the past two decades. That's pretty amazing. But they never brought home the title until Brad came along. And so coach of the year and all of that stuff. These two coaches are unbelievable. The top of the line and, and I'll be honest, you know, I watch Major League Baseball and other sports and they keep hiring the same coaches over and over again, right? They get fired and they hire them again. I'd hire these two guys, but I don't want to take them away from your school. So I'm only kidding. Just pretend I'll end up. You'll all leave, say, that was terrible. You know, they'll both be hired. I'll tell you what, they do a great job too. During the Red river athletic conference awards, 14 members of the Pilot's team received all conference team honors and six players were selected Gold Love Team for excellent defense. I can imagine. Isaac Rode was named conference pitcher of the year for a crushing league with think of this, a 120 record and 114 strikeouts. How about that? 12 and 0 is not bad. And Kobe Reeves, a left handed pitcher, was honored as the conference's newcomer of the year. So where are you two guys? Thank you. That's a fantastic thing. This team fought hard all the way through the last game of the season, the NAIA national championship against Southeastern University, which supposedly is a great opponent. And your frankly opponents quickly took the lead in the first two innings. But you refuse to fold or quit or do the thing that we're used to seeing a lot of people do in Washington. They quit. They fold. We don't fold, do we? Huh? We don't fold. Jose Salorin, who is supposed to be a terrific prospect for the future, drove in two and Anthony Swende scored a on a wild pitch. And the next inning the game was tied. Where's Anthony? Is he here? Anthony. Good going. Come here, Anthony. Get over here. Southeastern pulled ahead again, but the Pilots answered in a thunderous fashion. Home runs by Jackson Searing and Ian Montz and they say they're tremendous prospects also. And clutch RBIs from Ryan Davenport and Austin Gomm turned the tide very quickly. By the eighth inn, the Pilots were in full command, adding three more runs before slamming the door shut. When it was over, the scoreboard read 13 to 7 and the pilots were national champions. Wow, that's great, fellas. So together. How about the record of these two teams? You know, you put them together, you win. I think you win the world Series, period. A lot of you are going to be in Major League Baseball. We'll be watching you for a long time to come. And it's amazing. Great athletes, great, great looking young, wonderful people. Together these teams made history and won Louisiana's unparalleled glory on the college baseball diamond. Dominating not one, but two leagues in a single year. Think of that. You dominated each league you dominated. It's pretty unheard of. But there is something about your state. You're really special state. And when you look at the kind of love here, get a lot of the parents here that are so proud of what they have produced, some of them are thinking about dollar signs, they're saying, others are just saying how handsome is my son, right? But regardless, I just think it's amazing. It's a great tribute to the state. And I want to introduce now, to say a few words, another winner. He's taken over a situation where we had a majority of two. Nobody knows what a majority of two. We actually had a couple of moments where we were a majority of one person. And I said, you know, and it was terrible that I said this, but I said it. I said, speaker, we're one heart attack away from losing the majority, right? And the speaker said, please, I don't want to think about that. But we hung in, right, Steve? We hung in and we got everything we wanted. The great big beautiful deal, the biggest ever produced. Think of it, with a majority of. I guess at that time we were like a majority of four. And I had to make calls at 3 o' clock in the morning. 4 o'. Clock. You don't want to do this, fellas. Just keep playing baseball. It's more fun. I got a call from the speaker, sir. We have seven hard nose. And I'd say that's not good. This was at three in the morning. We needed the vote by early in the morning and I had to call people at three in the morning. Four in the morning. I'd say, Jim, he'd say, you have my vote, sir. No, I thought he was a hard. No, he just wanted me to call him, then I'd call another one. Hi, Jack, it's 3:14 in the morning. Hi, Jack. Sir, you have my vote. Oh. So the hard nose turned out not to be that hard, John. They just wanted me to call them, you know, they couldn't just raise their hand like they're supposed to. They wanted me to call. And we ended up winning and we. It's the, it's the single biggest bill ever passed in the history of Congress, of, you know, because we ultimately got the Senate bill. And what we don't want to say is that it's actually so full of things. I mean, no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime. The biggest tax cut in history, the biggest deductions ever taken, job producing deductions, $50 billion to rural hospitals. We took care of Medicaid, Medicare. We took care of everything. And we did something that people didn't know. We didn't know where we'd stand in a year or two years from now. So we put every single thing that we wanted in that bill for four years. So we don't need any more votes. We don't. All we want to do, all we want to do is have a vote of continuation. And it's the first time in history that a group has not voted for continuation. So they're having a. They have what's called a Trump derangement problem. Have you heard about that problem? Because that's the only reason this could be possible. But I think we're doing very well. I think they're going to have no choice but to go along because the country is setting records in every way and people want it to continue that way. So we're hoping the Democrats become much less deranged and that we will get the vote pretty soon. And I hear they're starting to feel that way, too. They're starting to feel like they really have to do what's right for the country. And they will. But I want to just introduce speaker of the House Mike Johnson. He's fantastic. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be very brief. We want to thank you for being such a gracious host and having us out to recognize this excellence. And it really is. Louisiana is punching way above our weight limit. And this is the pride of the state right now. These guys behind me, they worked so hard and they did it with class, Mr. President. They had grit and determination and integrity and it's so good to see that pay off. And Louisiana is a, as you said, a special state filled with great people, great fan base. The parents are part of that. You have the board of Supervisors and the board over the LSU system. And we recognize south and North Louisiana delivering these great titles, great championships, and it's really been something. And we want to thank you for your tremendous record and all you're doing right now. I mean, this president has not only reduced taxes, as we said, we've cut fraud, waste and abuse out of government. He solved the border crisis. He's solving the crime crisis. Oh, that's. That's right. He's also resolving wars around the world. But he still takes time. That's right. He still takes time to recognize the leaders of the next generation. And that means so much to all of us. I know it does. I have a personal connection to both schools, sir. You know, I'm a double alum from LSU in Baton Rouge, undergrad in law school. My daughter's the same. She's sitting here with me, Hannah. But I grew up in the shadow of LSUs, literally just south of the campus. We lived in a little neighborhood there and I used to go play baseball on the field over there at the school. So this, this really runs deep for all of us. And it means so much to us. Means so much to us that you're here to help celebrate. And I get the honor of introducing the first of the two coaches to speak. And both of these men are extraordinary. Their records speak for themselves. The way they've led these young guys, the way that they've shown them, the way. I love the demeanor of both of these gentlemen and how they do it. They're extraordinary coaches and they could coach in a majors, you're right. But we hope they stay where they are for just a little while longer. But I'm going to recognize the first one here. And there's a lot of reasons why Coach J. Johnson is recognized as one of the greatest coaches because he does so well. He has all star recruiting classes because he's able to go out and do that so well. He has elite pitching development. He's had an incredible record of post season success, as you all know. And as was noted, he's brought home not one, but two titles in three years to lsu, which is a historic legacy that we have. I was there in the 90s when we were winning these things and it's great to be doing it again. The seventh and eighth national titles now delivered by one of our favorite people. And we're delighted, I'm delighted to welcome him up. Say a few words, if you will. Coach J. Johnson. Thank you so much.

Mr. President. Thank you for having us in your home. I think the main thing I take away from you is work ethic, something we preach and nobody works harder for America than you. So thank you for setting a good example. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Leader, thank you so much for getting us here. It's an honor, it's an honor of a lifetime to be in the house of the greatest country in the world. And these guys had to do it on the field to make that happen. But we're here because of your efforts. And to have Louisiana so well represented by you two is outstanding. We are the college baseball capital of the world for 2025. Well represented in Washington as well. Governor Landrae here, we're coming to your house tomorrow night, and we're really fired up about that, so thank you for having us. It's awesome. About 34 games into the year, last year, I just started telling these guys I could coach this team forever, and I could do it because they embodied our mission. And our mission for the season last year was tough. And together to have the mental toughness to, no matter the circumstances, keep your head, execute your job at the highest level. They were the best in the country at that. And then the togetherness. You heard about all the draft picks. All these guys have their entire lives and world in front of them, but they made it about winning, they made it about lsu, and they made it about the team. And there's the honor of my lifetime to coach this national championship team and to be the coach at lsu. So I want to thank my team on this national stage because not only were they the national champions, they were the best baseball team in America last year. So thank you, guys. So I thought we did well, but this man did pretty well at 59 and 0, so I'm going to turn it over to him. Coach Neffendorf, great job. And it's an honor to share the stage with you and your championship team as well.

First off, I want to speak on behalf of our university administration and our athletic department for such a. A wonderful day, and our coaching staff and our players for which were we are recognizing here today. We're extremely honored to be here, excited. And, you know, I know our guys have been jacked up about it, not only just for the recognition, but you guys are recognizing the way where they get to be together one more time. And that says that for both teams up here. And no better way to do that. You know, I could sit up here and talk to you about our team all day long. What I can't talk to, and I get it, gets tough at times to answer is how we didn't lose a game. The only thing that I can sit up here and talk to you about is what they did to put themselves in position to at the end of the year, have not lost a game and won a national title. There was one word with these guys, and it was investment. They were invested in absolutely everything that, not only that we asked them to do, but Most, most importantly, they were invested in each other. You know, we always talk every year when we get these guys, we get together in the fall because the roster can turn over and things reset, you know, about how quick can we become a team. And there's rosters out there that don't become teams. And this group went from a roster to a team so incredibly quick, it made the lives of us coaching staff just that much easier. We just did what we could to get the heck out of the way and let them go. I've never seen a group with the word investment, you know, turn over to a word called impact with that investment. They impacted so many people from the university to the city. And I can truthfully sit up here and tell you they impacted myself and our coaching staff more than anybody else. You know, just like Jay, I want to thank our guys for what they did. I can't thank them enough. Just the impact that they had on everybody around them was truly unbelievable. And I. And I can speak to. That's why they put themselves in position to play for a national title. You know, the one thing that I'm going to, you know, Jay said it and others said, this isn't about just one program note today, obviously, lsu, if you think about baseball in the state of Louisiana, and I have for years, you think about lsu, very historic program, built out a lot of success and what they've been able to do twice in the last three years, you know, you can take what Jay said and you can add on a lot. I'm sure what I've said about the word investment and impact and whatnot, to be able to win two in the last three years in Division 1 baseball and the landscape that we have right now is incredible to me. But I can also say when you added what lsu, Shreveport has now done, my point with this whole thing, and it goes back to what Jay said as well. Baseball and college, college baseball right now is in the state of Louisiana. I don't think there's any better place for what's going on and how it's gone on. So that's how I'll end with what I've got today. I want to personally thank President Trump, Speaker Johnson, everybody involved. We can't thank you enough for having us here. It's one of the greatest things that, you know, these guys are ever going to be able to be a part of. And with that said, we have some gifts that we would like to present over.

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