LSU wins SEC title

After 29 games and more than nine innings of hard-fought SEC baseball, all No. 9 LSU needed was one base hit to beat No. 2 South Carolina and win the conference regular season championship.

They got it.

The hero is someone even a LSU diehard may not recognize.

Little-used pinch hitter Jackson Slaid delivered a two-out RBI single (just hit 14th hit of the season) in the top of the 10th inning to break a 1-1 and give LSU a 2-1 lead.

After adding an insurance run, Tigers closer Nick Goody found trouble, but rallied to give LSU the 3-2 win and the SEC Championship.

“What a resilient effort by our players,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said following the game. “They’ve certainly earned the right to call themselves SEC champions.”

Saturday afternoon’s game will likely go down as one of the most exciting and dramatic in the 2012 college baseball season.

Before a wild Gamecocks crowd, LSU struck first in the opening inning on an RBI groundout by junior Mason Katz, which plated outfielder Arby Fields, who doubled out of the two-hole to start the rally.

South Carolina tied the game in the third inning when right fielder Adam Matthews recorded a sacrifice fly.

After tying the game, neither team scored throughout nine innings of play. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a litany of scoring opportunities available to both teams.

The Tigers and Gamecocks combined to strand 17 runners on base in the game – several of whom were stranded because of solid defense and diving catches.

But the difference was Slaid, who poked a two-out single gently through the right side of the infield to put LSU ahead for good.

Mainieri said the Tigers’ ability to have an unsung hero in their biggest game shows the grit of their team.

“This team has overcome adversity all season and overachieved in a lot of ways,” Mainieri said. “I’m extremely proud to be their coach – they’re young men of great character who represent our university the right way.”

To get to Sunday’s showdown, the Tigers split a doubleheader Friday with South Carolina.

In the opening game of the two-game tilt, LSU sophomore Kevin Gausman showed why he’ll likely be a Top 5 pick in the upcoming MLB Draft.

The sophomore right-handed fire-baller fired his second-straight complete game in a 5-2 LSU win, allowing just two runs and five hits, while striking out six hitters.

The win moved the dominant hurler to 9-1 on the season and officially clinched the Tigers sole possession of the SEC West Championship.

South Carolina fired back in the second game and overcame an early deficit to score a 5-4 win to even the series.

Things looked promising for the Tigers early in Friday’s second game. LSU led 3-0 after five innings. But a 4-run sixth inning and an insurance run in the seventh put the Gamecocks ahead 5-3.

The Tigers fought to tie the game in the eighth inning, but were able to muster just one run, sending the game to its completion with the one-run margin, giving South Carolina the win and ensuring Saturday’s thriller would be a winner-take-all contest for the SEC title.

With the title in hand, LSU will now shift its attention to this week’s SEC Tournament.

The Tigers will be the top seed in the 10-team field and will receive an opening round bye. They will meet the lowest-seeded opening round winner on Wednesday at approximately 1 p.m.

Mainieri said winning the SEC Tournament would be a nice icing on the cake for LSU.

But for now, he’s just content to talk about the team’s regular season accomplishments.

The regular season title marks the 15th in LSU history and their first since 2003.

“To win the SEC title in this environment against the two-time defending national champions is a tremendous achievement,” Mainieri said.

Nicholls season ends with walk-off loss

While LSU fans popped their champagne in celebration, Nicholls’ season crashed and burned on the Stephen F. Austin baseball diamond in an equally dramatic fashion.

Needing to win to get to the Southland Conference, the Colonels and Lumberjacks headed into the ninth inning tied at 4.

After failing to score in the top half of the inning, the Lumberjacks had a runner on second base with one out when Ricardo Sanchez poked a single off Brad Delatte to plate the winning run and end Nicholls’ season.

The Colonels will finish 2012 with a 26-28 overall record and a 13-19 record in the Southland.

The team missed the conference tournament by a half-game because of a rain-canceled game with the University of Texas-San Antonio on May 6.

Had Nicholls been able to survive Saturday’s heartbreaker, they would have made the eight-team field as the conference’s eight-seed.

Even in a disappointing weekend, Nicholls got another dominant performance from storied pitcher Seth Webster.

In what could have been his final game as a Colonel, the Nicholls righty fired a complete game six-hitter in Thursday’s 5-2 Colonels win.

The Nicholls senior righty, who may be given a sixth-year of eligibility, threw more than 140 pitches in the gutsy effort.

Webster’s momentum wasn’t able to be bottled, as the Colonels lost Friday’s game 7-2, which set up Saturday’s heartbreak.

LSU senior third baseman Tyler Hanover dives into home during a game this season. 

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