OMAHA: LSU headed back to the CWS with sweep of WVU

LSU Baseball Super Regional — Michael Bacigalupi

By Hunt Palmer

THE STORY

The party got delayed three hours, but that didn’t send anyone home.

As midnight approached, a raucous Alex Box Stadium at capacity celebrated LSU’s 20th trip to Omaha as the Tigers dispatched West Virginia 12-5 to sweep the Baton Rouge Super Regional.

After two innings, the Tigers led 6-0 with Anthony Eyanson cruising. The champagne was just about on ice. But West Virginia tried to spoil the party.

Two home runs off Eyanson in the fourth made it 6-3, and a leadoff walk that came around to score, in part due to an errant pickoff throw, cut the lead to 6-4.

Mountaineer reliever Chase Meyer steadied the visitors from Morgantown with four consecutive scoreless frames while his offense chipped away. Ultimately, he ran out of steam in the seventh which was the backbreaker for West Virginia.

Daniel Dickinson reached when West Virginia second baseman Gavin Kelly couldn’t catch a pop up in right field. Then Meyer walked Tanner Reaves and hit Luis Hernandez to load the bases with one out.

Chris Stanfield punched a two-run single that beat the shift and drew an emotional reaction from his coach Jay Johnson. Clearly the two had discussed that exact swing prior to the at bat.

Jake Brown’s prodigious blast off the batter’s eye in center plated two more to make it 12-4 and get the plane engine warmed up for Omaha.

For the second consecutive night, the Tiger offense more than compensated for an uneven performance by the Tiger aces. Following Kade Anderson’s six earned runs allowed, Eyanson only lasted five innings and gave up four earned runs. He only gave up three earned runs in May.

The junior right hander set the tone for the game with four straight swinging strikeouts in the first four men he faced. After that, the Mountaineers really made things tough with a lot of patience and some good swings on mistakes.

Cooper Williams took the reins from Eyanson and gave LSU (48-15) exactly what the Tigers needed. He retired the first six hitters he faced with a little help from a tremendous diving catch in left field by Curiel. In the eighth, he gave up a longball on a hanging breaking ball, but his last two outings are encouraging moving to the College World Series where a trip to the losers’ bracket means pitching depth is a must.

Chase Shores blew three 100 mph fastballs by Brodie Kresser to end the eighth and worked a perfect ninth. He was dominant.

The key to the game, like Saturday night, was getting the starter out of the game. Jack Kartsonas had to throw 67 pitches in two innings. Steven Milam’s ringing double down into the right field corner plated three runs in that five-run second. Brown and Jared Jones followed with RBI hits. Jones’s was a pop up that West Virginia failed to corral in shallow right field. That forced the Mountaineers into a tired bullpen, and ultimately it faltered.

This is the first time since super regionals were instituted in 1999 that LSU has scored double-digit runs in two games.

THE SCORECARD

Steven Milam: 2-for-4, 2 2B, 4RBI, 2R

Jake Brown: 2-for-4, HR, 4RBI, 2R

Jared Jones: 3-for-4, RBI, HBP

LSU was 5-for-12 (.417) with runners in scoring position.

LSU was 2-for-2 with the bases loaded.

LSU drove in eight runs with two outs.

Chase Shores: 1.1IP, 3k

THE QUOTES

Steven Milam on his huge weekend…

“I love the big moment, and I didn’t help my team as much as I wanted to this year. I had to step up to take the pressure off the other guys, and I feel like I’ve been able to do that. Our whole team is having great at bats 1-through-9. You can punch in 15 guys, and we’re going to beat you. I just love the bog moment, and this is why I came here. This is why you come to LSU.”

Jared Jones on this LSU team…

“I think we had a great weekend. Obviously, we capped off a good season at home at Alex Box, and that’s something we wanted to do. We wanted to punch our ticket to Omaha….The job’s not finsihed. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. We’re going to have practice on Tuesday, get on a plane on Wednesday and fly out there and get right back to work.”

Jay Johnson on Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson not having their best stuff in the super regional…

“I’ll take either of them on the mound any day of the week against anybody. It’s that special character. Like yesterday I’m going, like, Kade you’ve got us 7 innings. This is a really good team, by the way. And I would like to congratulate coach Sabins and West Virginia on an outstanding season. He’s a star. He’ll be one of the best — he’s one of the best coaches in college baseball now in his first season. Buying stock in a program, buying at West Virginia.

But, yeah, it’s been — I forgot the question, I’m sorry. Anthony and Kade. My wife’s back there, probably the next two most important people in my life. I’ll take them anytime anywhere. And absolute winners. It’s just a special competitor. Like hey we went out there, won a Super Regional. That’s win 11, that’s a small list in college baseball this year. Might be one. Might be one.

And to want more and to do more makes you proud as a coach. It’s like we don’t play well maybe but we play our best and win and we’re pushing that we’re not getting validated by what anybody says about us. We’re not getting validated by even winning and losing as crazy as that sounds, we’re validated by how we play. When your two best dudes are like that, unbelievable effect on the whole team.”