Saturday’s match between North Carolina and LSU was a crucial one.
No, it didn’t crown a champion, and no, the loser’s season didn’t end.
However, the winner would absolutely have the inside track in the Chapel Hill regional and a better shot at advancing out of the double-elimination opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
After its 6-2 loss to UNC, it won’t be LSU reaping that benefit. Instead, the team will face long odds to make its way to the next round, the super regionals.
“We worked too hard to get here to let a little disappointment get in the way of what’s in front of us,” head coach Jay Johnson said.
Over the course of the game, LSU left nine baserunners stranded, failing to convert many valuable opportunities for runs.
Much of that was because of UNC’s excellent fielding, something the team has been adept at all season. The Tar Heels turned three different double plays to end LSU scoring opportunities.
Perhaps the most consequential of those was in the seventh inning when LSU had the bases loaded with one out down 3-0.
LSU drew consecutive walks to bring in two runs, showing discipline and an unwillingness to chase at the plate that the hitters displayed throughout the game.
With the Tigers now down only one run, graduate designated hitter Hayden Travinski grounded into a double play that ended the inning and snuffed LSU’s chances of making more of the scoring threat.
“That was probably the one,” Johnson said. “If we can cash in right there, I definitely believe that the end of the game goes differently.”
From that point on, LSU didn’t get another runner on base.
Senior pitcher Luke Holman had yet another great outing in a season that earned him a second team all-SEC selection. He had 10 strikeouts and produced three different innings that were three up, three down.
The lone blots in his performance both came at the hands of UNC’s star junior outfielder Vance Honeycutt.
In the fifth inning, UNC broke the scoreless tie with a three-run home run from Honeycutt. In the seventh, Honeycutt’s home run with two outs provided breathing room for the Tar Heels and knocked Holman out of the game.
“I just couldn’t get that kill pitch,” Holman said of his battle with Honeycutt.
“Somebody’s going to pay that dude a lot of money,” Johnson said of Honeycutt. “He got a couple good swings off tonight, and that was the difference in the game.”
Those home runs were Honeycutt’s 23rd and 24th of the season, placing him at a tie for No. 19 in the country.
UNC added on a few more insurance runs in the eight inning that LSU wasn’t able to answer.
LSU will face Wofford on Sunday at 11 a.m. in a game in which the loser is eliminated. If the Tigers win, they’ll have a second game that day at 5 p.m. against UNC.
By winning this game, UNC will receive the luxury of waiting to face whoever emerges out of Sunday’s losers’ bracket matchup against Wofford rather than participating in the elimination game itself.
LSU will now have to win three straight games, beginning with the game with Wofford, in order to advance to the super regionals.
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Because the Tar Heels are undefeated so far, they’ll have two chances to win one game against the prevailing loser’s bracket team.
Those are good odds that give a much more favorable chance of advancing to the super regionals, underscoring just how important Saturday’s match was.
Also worth considering is the fact that LSU now enters an elimination matchup that it’ll have to win without its two ace pitchers in Holman and Gage Jump, who started in the regional-opening win over Wofford.
The Tigers’ pitching staff has shown an ability to prevail by committee, but it hasn’t always been a sure thing.
LSU advanced to this matchup of undefeateds by virtue of winning its opening matchup with Wofford, a thriller that was decided in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Steven “Monster” Milam’s solo home run gave LSU the win. The freshman second baseman is no stranger to being the hero, as he also hit a walk-off home run against South Carolina in the SEC Tournament.
The Tigers had lots of trouble putting together offense that day; they’d get a hit or a walk but struggled to string them together into a real scoring threat.
As such, it seemed fitting that LSU’s path to getting back into the game after an early 2-0 deficit was the long ball. All four of the Tigers’ runs scored were solo home runs, and all four were crucial.
It was a significant win: teams that lose the first game of their regional have gone on to win the regional just three times out of 96 opportunities since 2021 (one of those that beat the odds was LSU in 2021).
To do so would require four straight wins, a difficult proposition at this time of the year when every opponent is formidable.
UNC, the regional host and No. 4 team in the country, also avoided the loser’s bracket by the skin of its teeth in its first matchup.
Against Long Island, the lowest-seeded team in the regional, UNC faced a three-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth and managed to string together six runs, including a walk-off grand slam by freshman infielder Gavin Gallaher.
Despite the hiccups, these two teams were clearly the juggernauts of the Chapel Hill regional. LSU came in as the defending national champions, and UNC has consistently looked like one of the best teams in the country.
Saturday’s matchup was a pivotal tilt that could potentially decide the regional champion. LSU still has a fighting chance, but the loss caps its margin for error to zero.
