It was the game everyone wanted, but it was more than anyone thought it would be. Paul Skenes and Rhett Lowder both dominated on the mound, and the relief pitching continued where their starters left off.
But in the eleventh inning, Tommy White’s bat found a spark and came alive. He hit the ball into the left-field stands to send LSU to the College World Series finals with a 2-0 win over Wake Forest.
LSU will play Florida in Game One of the College World Series finals on Saturday at 6 p.m. C.T. from Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. The game will be aired on ESPN.
It was a pitch LSU fans will never forget. It was a pitch that Baton Rouge will never forget. But most of all, it was a pitch Tommy White will never forget.
With his walk-off home run in the eleventh inning, Tommy White gave his LSU team a ticket to the national championship series.
“I’m always confident in the box, that’s just how I play the game,” White said. “I was super confident, just doing our deal.”
Even though runs were put on the scoreboard from what happened with the bat, the game couldn’t have been won if it wasn’t for what took place on the mound. When the difference between the two pitchers is so slight that watching pitch count is the primary focus of the game, that tells you it’s been a pitcher’s duel.
Skenes went 8.0 innings, struck out nine and gave up just two hits. He pitched 120 pitches on just four days of rest. He broke the LSU school record for strikeouts in a single season with 209 strikeouts, formerly held by Ben McDonald from the 1989 season. The record is also an SEC record.
“I’ve gotten to talk with Ben [McDonald] a lot, and he got to call a lot of our games,” Skenes said. “It’s cool, it’s cool to leave a legacy.”
Rhett Lowder was just as dominant for Wake Forest, as he went 7.0 innings, struck out six and gave up just two hits.
Both Skenes and Lowder kept their innings short and got outs quickly. By the seventh inning, both teams combined for just five hits. Wake Forest challenged Skenes by forcing long at-bats by fouling off pitches.
Thus, Skenes’ pitch count increased at a faster rate than Lowder’s. At the end of the seventh inning, Skenes was at 103 pitches and Lowder was at 88. But Skenes had success in forcing fly balls to keep the Demon Deacons off the bases. On the other hand, Lowder was able to force the Tigers to hit groundballs.
In the top of the eighth inning, Wake almost broke the ice with a suicide-squeeze bunt. But Tre’ Morgan fielded the bunt and got the out at home.
“I think he [Morgan] showed everyone that he’s the most athletic first baseman in the country.”
The game stood still while Skenes and Lowder were on the mound, but it was a matter of when one of them would come out first. That time came in the bottom of the eighth inning, when Cole Roland came in relief for Wake Forest.
The relief pitching lived up to the standard Skenes and Lowder set. The Tigers and the Demon Deacons’ bullpens blanked each other into extra innings. The Skenes vs. Lowder matchup became a matchup between Thatcher Hurd from LSU and Michael Massey for Wake Forest.
Hurd came in the game in the ninth inning, and went 3.0 innings, struck out one and gave up one hit. Massey came in two batters after Roland did, and pitched 2.2 innings, struck out five and gave up a run on one hits.
“It’s just all about execution,” Hurd said. “I was going to do anything to get that win out for us. I wasn’t going to let us down.”
It took one more pitching change for LSU to break the ice. Camden Minacci came in the game in the top of the 11th inning, and Tommy White took advantage when he saw his first pitch.
Regardless of the outcome, it was the game for the ages. For how highly anticipated the matchup already was, it’s safe to say it exceeded its full potential. It’s a game college baseball fans will never forget, but it’s a game that Tommy White and LSU will especially never forget.
For now, the Tigers are forced to put it in the back of their mind, as one more team stands in the way of their ultimate goal: the Florida Gators.
“The whole year we knew we could do it,” Skenes said. “This is what we’ve had our eyes on all year, and it’s pretty cool to be here now.”
