An Alex Bregman single sparked an eighth-inning rally that saw the No.1 ranked LSU baseball team rebound from a rough first inning to win 8-5 and advance to the championship round on Sunday.
Sophomore pitcher Aaron Nola threw 42 pitches to get through the first while allowing five unearned runs off of five defensive errors for the Tigers.
“Longest first inning I’ve ever experienced,” Nola said. “But my biggest thing was to give the team a chance to win, and I knew I was going to get the run support behind me.
After the first, Nola shut the Bearkats down, throwing 69 pitches in six scoreless innings.
The Tigers could’ve chipped into Sam Houston’s lead in the second, as Bregman’s drive into right center field bounced off a batting cage back into play, but was ruled a double.
Coach Paul Mainieri said after the game the umpires did the best they could to make a tough call, but was more frustrated at the poor base running exhibited by the Tigers on base.
“[Sophomore outfielder Jared Foster] did a poor job running the bases,” Mainieri said. “He held up at second when he should’ve kept going, that could’ve been a triple and we would’ve scored another run.
Bregman and Rhymes returned after colliding with each other in yesterday’s win against Jackson State.
But while Bregman excelled at the plate, he struggled in the field leading to a season-high four errors attributed to the left side of the infield.
“We did not play our best defensive game,” Bregman said.
Thankfully for the Tigers, the offense took over in the eighth inning. Senior first baseman Mason Katz followed Bregman’s single with a walk, bringing senior outfielder Raph Rhymes to the plate with runners on first and second and one out. His grounder was misplayed by Sam Houston sophomore infielder Carter Burgess, scoring Bregman and tying the game.
“[Rhymes] has developed a habit of hitting into double plays,” coach Paul Mainieri said. “So we put the hit and run on, and the runners did a good job of executing. The ball took a tough bounce and they weren’t able to make a play on it.”
Junior third baseman Christian was then hit by a pitch, bringing junior catcher Ty Ross to the plate with the bases loaded. Ross has the worst batting average in LSU’s lineup at .222.
“Over the last two months [Ross] has hit about as well as anyone on this team,” Mainieri said. “He just hasn’t had much to show for it. He’s hit an awful lot of hard baseballs, so we don’t worry about his batting average. He had the game winning hit in the SEC Tournament; he just comes through in the clutch time and time again.”
After Ross’ single put the Tigers up 7-5, Alex Edward replaced DH Tyler Moore to take advantage of the pitching matchup.
“I thought [Edwards’] at-bat was absolutely phenomenal,” Mainieri said. “To go down 0-2 and then fight back through some really tough pitches to draw the bases loaded walk.”
LSU closer extraordinaire Chris Cotton came in during the eighth to end the game for the Tigers. Cotton allowed his first base runner since May 11 when he walked Bearkat second baseman Ryan Farney, but was able to get out of the inning with two strikeouts and a fielder’s choice groundout.
“That walk was on me, I didn’t get ahead,” Cotton said after the game.
Cotton is usually reserved for the ninth inning, but Mainieri said he didn’t want to take any chances after rallying back to take the lead.
“He didn’t pitch yesterday, so he was fresh,” Mainieri said. “I just felt like we needed to go with our best guy after that unbelievable comeback. My father always told me ‘If you can win one, go for it,’ so that’s what I did.”
LSU will face the winner of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Sam Houston at 7 p.m. tomorrow. The Cajuns or the Bearkats will have to defeat LSU twice to advance to the Super Regional.
Mainieri said after the game he had no idea who would pitch on Sunday, but LSU will mostly likely go with more of a staff-wide approach instead of relying on only two pitchers.
After yet another comeback win in which everything that could’ve gone wrong, went wrong, Mainieri said the Tigers would be ready for anything.
“Murphy’s Law came out and hit us right between the eyes tonight,” Mainieri said. “I told the players at the end of the game that it was one of the most gratifying and enjoyable wins I’ve had since I’ve been here.”
