FORT WORTH, Texas - The LSU gymnastics team is the favorite heading into Saturday's NCAA Championship Final.

The No. 2 Tigers will face off with No. 3 California, No. 4 Florida, and No. 5 Utah in a quest for LSU's first-ever national title. The two-time defending national champs, (1) Oklahoma, was surprisingly eliminated in Thursday night's semifinals.

WBRZ spoke with LSU Head Coach Jay Clark Friday about not having to face Oklahoma, and how it doesn't change his teams preparation.

"They're human and we've all been there and it can happen to anybody, I have tremendous respect for Oklahoma and those coaches," said Clark. "They've been the gold standard in our sport for a lot of years. And you know, it's been a long time since something like that happened to them, so they're a tremendous program. But, it just goes to show that on any given night, anything can happen, and that's why you hear me say what I'm saying is that we can't change our mindset, all this noise going on around us, we got to make sure that we stay true to the things that have worked for us all year."

Coverage of the NCAA Gymnastics final begins at 2:30 p.m. on WBRZ Saturday afternoon. The competition begins at 3 p.m.

COLUMBIA, MO - LSU baseball defeated Missouri 12-1 with a run-rule Friday night.

The Tiger bats erupted for 13 hits and four home runs. Freshman Steven Milam hit his first career collegiate home run in the third inning, while Hayden Travinski, Brady Neal, and Jared Jones also went yard for LSU. 

On the mound, Gage Jump (3-1) tossed a seven-inning complete game, allowing just one run and striking out 14.

The win breaks LSU's five-game SEC losing streak. LSU is now 24-15 overall and 4-12 in SEC play.

LSU's series against Missouri continues Saturday at 4 p.m.

BATON ROUGE - Former LSU gymnastics coach D-D Breaux, who is all-too-familiar with the NCAA Championships with 35 appearances, commented on LSU's appearance in the final round of the tournament.

When asked if this particular team is any different from LSU's past teams, Breaux said she did not think it was any different, but praised current coach Jay Clark as "the man," saying him being in charge of the team and the team knocking on the door of a national championship is "as gratifying as if I were there myself."

"This team is so talented and so deep and so ready," Clark said. "But Skip Bertman used to tell me, 'you gotta have a little bit of luck,' so I think there's a little bit of luck involved in this, and I think this team is ready. It's going to be an exciting meet, it's going to be a Texas shootout in there, it's going to be fabulous."

When asked if the elimination of Oklahoma, the number one team in the country, changes the pressure for the teams, Breaux said it opened the door for four teams with a "tremendous amount of parity" to get the victory.

Breaux also discussed how gratifying it was to see a program she helped define and build make it this far once again, and she used it as an opportunity to promote other successful LSU sports programs, as she attends many games across sports.

"It's a tremendous amount of gratification, and going to every event is important to me," Breaux said. "I mean, go out and follow our tennis team, our men's tennis team is knocking on the door of an SEC Championship! Go watch them. But it's the gratification of building something great and seeing it continue to be great when I'm not driving that train; Jay is, and he's doing a great job."

Hunter McCann has the best bets for the March Madness, NBA, college baseball, NHL, and MLB!

Friday

NBA:

Bulls @ Heat: Heat -1.5

Kings @ Pelicans: Over 210 Total Points

MLB:

White Sox @ Phillies: Phillies ML

Astros @ Nationals: Astros -1.5

Mets @ Dodgers: Dodgers ML

College Baseball:

Florida @ Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt -1.5

Kansas @ Baylor: Kansas ML

LSU @ Missouri: LSU ML

Saturday

NBA:

Magic @ Cavaliers: Magic +4.5

Suns @ Timberwolves: Timberwolves -1.5

76ers @ Knicks: Knicks -2.5

NHL:

Islanders  @ Hurricanes: Hurricanes -1.5

Maples Leafs @ Bruins: Over 5.5 Goals

MLB:

Rays @ Yankees: Yankees ML

Athletics @ Guardians: Guardians ML

Rangers @ Braves: Braves ML

College Baseball: 

TBD

Sunday

NBA:

Mavericks @ Clippers: Clippers +2

Pacers @ Bucks: Bucks ML

NHL:

Lightning @ Panthers: Panthers ML

Avalanche @ Jets: Avalanche ML

Predators @ Canucks: Predators ML

MLB:

TBD

College Baseball: 

TBD

For an in-depth analysis of all these picks, tune into ESPN 104.5 on Saturday from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. to hear Hunter on Sports Shorts Radio.