OMAHA, Neb. – LSU faces North Carolina tonight in an elimination game four days after a loss to the Tar Heels put the Tigers in the loser’s bracket of the College World Series.
So what made LSU so confident at practice Wednesday?
One thing in the Tigers’ favor was the way Tuesday’s games led to tonight’s matchup.
LSU pulled out a thrilling 6-5 victory Tuesday afternoon with four clutch runs in the bottom of the ninth inning of an elimination game against Rice.
North Carolina then allowed Fresno State to score the final four runs of the game in a 5-3 loss.
“I don’t relish facing [LSU] again,” said North Carolina coach Mike Fox. “We’re both in the same boat. We’ll need to play extremely well, pitch well. They’re such a dangerous team. They’re never out of a game.”
LSU coach Paul Mainieri took a very positive mindset out of his team’s, 8-4, opening-round loss to the Tar Heels.
“As well as they played, as great as their pitcher was, as many breaks as they got, if we don’t have a bad umpire’s call go against us, you’ve got an 8-5 game with the tying run at the plate late in the game,” Mainieri said. “We were so close even though we didn’t play that well. Our feeling is [that] North Carolina’s got a great ball club, or they wouldn’t have won 52 games. But we think we’re pretty good too.”
The Tigers will start junior left hander Blake Martin tonight. North Carolina scored six runs, four of which were earned, off LSU junior Ryan Verdugo on Sunday.
LSU pitching coach Terry Rooney said Martin will be integral to the Tigers’ chances tonight.
“The key to success against North Carolina is going to be that Blake Martin is able to go out there and go deep in the game for us,” Rooney said.
Rooney said while Verdugo and Martin are both left-handed, the Tar Heels will see a much different pitcher in the clubs’ second meeting.
“Ryan is a two-pitch pitcher – meaning he’s got a fastball and a change-up,” Rooney said. “Blake is a legitimate three-pitch pitcher.”
Martin has also proven himself better at not allowing runs early in games this postseason.
In one Southeastern Conference tournament, one regional and one super regional start a piece, Verdugo allowed 10 earned runs in 16 innings while Martin allowed five runs in 16 1/3 innings.
Martin said he’s excited about the chance to start the high-pressure game.
“Anybody that’s a competitor wants the ball in that situation,” Martin said. “Like [sophomore designated hitter Blake] Dean on [Tuesday] night – he hits in a double play there, our season’s over. But he wanted to be up there, and he hit the ball off the wall. And yeah, I want the ball whenever they’ll give it to me.”
Fox said he will start freshman right hander Matt Harvey, opting not to bring back sophomore Alex White four days after he held the Tigers to three runs on four hits in seven innings.
“He’s got great stuff,” Mainieri said of Harvey. “Harvey should have been a first-round pick coming out of high school, but he was pretty emphatic about wanting to go to college.”
While Harvey has a 2.56 ERA – the lowest among Tar Heel starters – he allows more base runners than White.
“He throws in the mid-90s, but he is a little bit wild,” Mainieri said. “He’s got 44 walks in 60-something innings. So he’s a tough guy to face because you want your hitters to be aggressive, but at the same time if they want to walk you, you’ve got to take the walk.”
One thing that may bode well for the Tigers’ offense is the re-emergence of junior right fielder Derek Helenihi’s bat.
Helenihi led the Tigers with three hits in Tuesday’s victory against Rice. The three hits was the most the Livermore, Calif., native managed since Apr. 27.
Helenihi had only four hits in 11 postseason games prior to Tuesday, including an 0-for-16 streak spanning most of the regional and super regional rounds.
“He’s a good hitter, and he struggles just like anybody else does,” Mainieri said. “But I knew he was capable of coming out of it.”
Mainieri went on to say success and confidence helps lead a player to be more aggressive and let his natural ability take over instead of overthinking things.
And as far as the Tigers taking any extra motivation into tonight’s game, Dean said LSU doesn’t need it.
“Win or go home,” Dean said. “That’s motivation enough.”
—- Contact Jerit Roser at [email protected]