Very rarely do baseball games play out like they are expected to.
But tonight’s game between LSU and Oklahoma in the first game of the NCAA Super Regional did, as LSU clawed and fought its way to a 2-0 victory.
The narrative leading up to the game focused on the clubs’ two dominant starting pitchers, one who had just become the third overall pick in the MLB draft and one who has the chance to go even higher when it’s said and done.
Both sophomore Aaron Nola and junior Jonathan Gray lived up to the hype. Gray went 7.1 innings while only giving up five hits and striking out nine.
“My pitching strategy was to mix early,” Gray said. “Try to slow the hitters’ bats down. We had [LSU] right where we wanted them.”
Mix he did, as Gray baffled the Tiger hitters early on with a barrage of sliders.
LSU coach Paul Mainieri said the scouting report on Gray showed he would throw the slider for strikes, but LSU didn’t expect him to throw as many as he did.
On most other nights, Gray’s performance would’ve led to a Sooner victory, but with Nola on the mound, Gray’s great performance was overshadowed by a near-perfect one.
Nola went all nine innings, only gave up two hits in an incredibly efficient performance which saw throw only 102 pitches. For comparison, Gray used 118 through only 7.1.
Oklahoma skipper Sunny Golloway cited the disparity in pitch counts as an early warning sign that Nola was winning the battle.
“He was winning every inning by 15 or 17 pitches,” Golloway said. “He’s was more efficient on the mound and their hitters did a good job of getting [Grey’s] pitch count up early.”
Out of 102 pitches, Nola threw 76 strikes — good for a 75 percent strike night.
Both pitchers took shutouts into the eighth inning, but LSU broke the game open in the bottom of the eighth.
After Gray struck out junior catcher Ty Ross, second baseman JaCoby Jones stepped to the plate with a plan.
“I told [hitting coach Javi Sanchez] in the dugout before I got up to bat that I was going to sit on a slider,” Jones said. “He threw me a first pitch slider, and I didn’t swing at it, so I was pretty disappointed in myself.”
Jones then swung and missed at a fastball strike to go down 0-2, but Mainieri said he was confident Jones would be able to break through.
“I’ve been watching [Jones] for three years, I can tell when he’s not seeing the ball well,” Mainieri said. “Tonight wasn’t one of those nights; he was seeing the pitches well.”
Jones was able to take the next pitch he saw the other way, as he lined a ball to right center field. The ball dropped in between the center fielder and the right fielder, allowing Jones to advance all the way to third with only one out in the inning.
“I feel like I’ve been waiting all year for [Jones] to hit a triple into right-center,” Mainieri said. “He finally did it at the best possible moment.”
Sophomore Tyler Moore was then called upon to pinch hit for freshman outfielder Andrew Stevenson to drive Jones in from third. Moore has a developed a penchant for coming up with big hits in big games, as he hit a game tying home run in last year’s Super Regional against Stony Brook and drove in the go-ahead run in the SEC Championship two weeks ago.
Moore swung at the first pitch he saw and punched a RBI double into right field, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
“Ever since you were a little kid those are the moments that you dream of, you dream of getting the big hit to win the game,” Moore said. “All these guys are prepared for this moment; we’re all so close together this year that we just do it for each other.”
After McMullen lined out to the short stop, a hot-hitting freshman stepped up to the plate. Not Alex Bregman, but freshman outfielder Mark Laird, who had three hits against Gray, one of the best pitchers in the country.
Laird laced a single into left field and sophomore outfielder Jared Foster — who was pinch running for Moore — was able to score from second.
“I’ve believed in [Laird] from the first day he walked on this field, I believe he will only get better,” Mainieri said. “He’s got the “it” factor and it’s something you can’t describe. He has that extra something.”
Once Nola got the lead, he never looked back. He mowed down the Sooner batters in the top of the ninth in order to secure the win for the Tigers.
“[The game] was everything that everyone expected it to be,” Mainieri said. “Anybody that hasn’t been to Alex Box Stadium for a game like this needs to put it on their bucket list. You haven’t lived until you experience this crowd and the atmosphere … this game did college baseball proud tonight.”
LSU will look to punch its ticket to Omaha tomorrow night, as junior pitcher Ryan Eades will take the mound against junior OU pitcher Dillon Overton in a battle of second round MLB Draft picks.
