LSU was a victim of another rain delay on Sunday for their winner’s bracket matchup against Oregon State. But when the rain went away, the home run ball came to stay. After a rain delay and a lot of home runs, LSU came away with a 6-5 win to advance to the Baton Rouge Regional final on Monday.
“Great college baseball game,” Johnson said. “Two great teams, highly competitive.”
The game between the Tigers and the Beavers started at 2 p.m. C.T., but after 2.5 innings, the game went into a rain delay due to lightning in the area. The rain eventually came shortly after. Once the rain cleared up and the tarp was removed from the infield, the game resumed at 6:15 p.m. C.T.
“During the rain delay, we were just focused on staying in the game,” Brayden Jobert said. “We came out and we did our job.”
Once play resumed, the bats for both teams came to life. Of the 23 combined hits for both teams eight of them were home runs. At that point, the timing of them is what mattered most.
Travis Bazzana was the only home run that came before the rain delay, as he gave Oregon State a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. Bazzana finished two four for with two RBIs. Brady Kasper then extended their lead to 2-0 with a home run to left field. Kasper finished one for three with an RBI.
After Oregon State went up 3-0, Josh Pearson got LSU started with a triple to right-center field in the bottom of the fourth. Right after, Dylan Crews homered to left center to cut the Beavers’ lead to one. Crews finished two for four with two RBIs.
But the bottom of the fifth was all LSU. Hayden Travinski started the inning with a home run that sailed over the left-field bleachers, and Cade Beloso homered right after to right field to give LSU a 4-3 lead. Travinski finished one for five, and Beloso finished one for two with a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
In the bottom of the sixth, Josh Pearson homered to right center to extend the Tigers’ lead to 5-3. Pearson went two for three with an RBI.
Oregon State wouldn’t go away. In the top of the seventh, Gavin Turley tied the game at five with a two-run home run that went over the batter’s eye. Turley finished 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a double.
But Brayden Jobert responded in the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run to put LSU up for good. Jobert finished one for four with an RBI.
“I was the leadoff in the inning, just tried to put up a good at-bat and get on base,” Jobert said. “It was a 2-0 count, he threw me a fastball and I put a good swing on it.”
Ty Floyd started the game on the mound but was forced to come out once the delay began. He went 3.0 innings, struck out five, and gave up one run on five hits.
Thatcher Hurd took care of business on the mound after the rain delay., He received the win, went for 5.0 innings, struck out 12, and gave up four runs on seven hits. He found a lot of success with his breaking ball with two strikes.
“He was the best pitcher in the country tonight,” Johnson said.
Gavin Guidry closed the last inning with two strikeouts.
LSU’s pitching staff combined for 19 strikeouts on the day.
For Oregon State, AJ Lattery got the start. He pitched 2.0 innings, struck out three, and gave up just one hit. But Ben Ferrer received the loss for the Beavers, he pitched 3.2 innings, struck out five, but gave up four runs on five hits.
“Every pitch that we threw where we didn’t execute it, they took advantage of it,” Lattery said. “They got really good hitters, really good offense.”
The Tigers will now move onto the regional final, and will play the winner of Oregon State and Sam Houston, which is set to begin at around 9:30 p.m. C.T. The time of LSU’s regional final game is to be determined, and if the Tigers were to lose that game, they would play again.
With Paul Skenes, Ty Floyd and Thatcher Hurd unavailable, it’s unclear on who will start in the regional final. Javen Coleman is a likely candidate, as he is a left-handed pitcher, and both Oregon State and Sam Houston have thrived primarily off of right-handed pitchers.
Oregon State and Sam Houston played on Friday, and Oregon State dominated with an 18-2 win. But of course, Oregon State had already played Sunday, it’s a late ball game, and there will be different pitchers. So counting Sam Houston out early would be a mistake.
Until Monday, LSU will await its opponent for the Baton Rouge Regional final for the right to advance to the Super Regionals, which will also be played at Alex Box Stadium.
“Baseball is a long game, it has its ups and downs,” Jobert said. “But as long as we stick to our plan and focus on what we need to do, I feel like we will come out on top.”
