Elphege Bergeron
June 13, 2018
Locals say Alberto was a successful "dry run"
June 13, 2018
There will be no trip to Omaha this year for the LSU baseball team.
The Tigers were crushed this past weekend in the Corvallis Regional, winning two close games against San Diego State and Northwestern State, while also getting creamed twice by host Oregon Stale.
The Beavers are the No. 2 National Seed and they showed LSU exactly how far away from prominence the Tigers are. mutilating them in consecutive blowouts to advance to the Super Regional round.
The weekend ends LSU’s season with a 86-27 record.
This is the seventh time in 12 years under Paul Mainieri that the team fails to make it to the College World Series.
“Oar kids gave it everything they had.” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said “I’m SO proud of them. They left it all out on the field”
The Tigers didn’t really play well in any phase in the regional.
Even in LBUs wins, the Tigers struggled to record timely hits, which kept games dose to the end
In the first game of the regional. LSU beat San Diego State 8-4 on the arm of Nick Bush.
Bush allowed just four hits and three runs in five tunings leaving the game in a 3-all tie heading into the sixth inning
The Tigers won me late innings, plating three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to go up 6-3 – a lead they’d never relinquish.
The Aztecs got n run in the eighth inning off Devin Fontenot but closer Todd Peterson closed the door in the ninth inning to seal the win
Fontenot relieved Bush end works d three innings, serving as a bridge to Peterson – a huge plus for the Tigers because of a short-handed pitching staff.
“I thought the real key to the game today was Devin Fontenot.” Mainieri said. “Devin did a tremendous job and Todd Peterson was great in the ninth to secure the win.”
In victory, LSU inched to face Oregon State in the driver’s seat winner’s bracket game on Saturday night.
That game didn’t go so well for LSU ID a 14-1 Beavers win
The Tigers squandered opportunity after opportunity offensively and the Beavers stomped LSU ace Zack Hess, plating 10 runs in the first four innings to take control of the game.
The scoring pace cooled later in the game, but the Tigers never threatened, leaving countless men on base in defeat.
“That was an extremely rough game for us.” Mainieri send. “I think Oregn State had a lot to do with that as they played very well tonight. We had some opportunities to score early m the game, but we couldn’t capitalize on them and then the game Just got away from us”
The loss sent LSU to the loner’s bracket and into a Sunday matchup with Northwestern State, which beat San Diego State on Saturday.
The Demons gave LSU everything they could handle – even taking a 5-4 lead into the top of the ninth inning
But the final three outs of the game proved to be the hardest for the Demons to get, as LSU exploded for five runs in the last inning to steal a 9-5 win.
LSU had 16 hits in the game, which helped than overcome three errors in the field.
E.D. White graduate Cam Sanders started against the Demons and was good-continuing the momentum be started to build in the SEC Tournament.
Sanders pitched five innings, allowing five hits and three earned runs. leaving the game in a 2-2 tie.
Mainieri praised his players after the game for their poise in clutch, late-game situations. LSU belted Northwestern State closer Jose Vasquezin the ninth, but it was far from a certainty because bed kicked down the Tigers in both the seventh and eighth innings.
“Their closer was tough, but we were able to get same big hits in die ninth inning.” Mainieri said. The hitters came through in a big way for us after we had struggled with some scoring opportunities throughout the game.”
With the win, LSU took a quick rest then got back on the field to face Oregon State again, knowing they had to beat the Beavers twice to move on to the Round of 16.
LSU couldn’t beat them once, falling in lopsided defeat.
The Beavers took advantage of an LSU pitching staff which was down to the bottom of the barrel, rearing for runs in three-straight Innings to start the game with a 6-0 lead.
But even if Oregon State couldn’t score, neither could LSU.
The Tigers were completely stymied by Beavers pitcher Kevin Abel, who completely dominated the game throughout and sent Oregon State to the next round of play.
The LUS baseball team gets record up before playing Oregon State over the weekend. The Tigers beat Son Dtego State and Northwestern State in the Regional Round of the NCAA Tournament, but more crushed twice by the Beavers, ending the team’s season.
