In its 21-7 victory Monday against the University of California Irvine, LSU used shades of its past to run away with the win. In the 1980s and 1990s, the LSU offense earned a reputation for beating opponents with a heavy dose of the longball. Against the Anteaters on Monday, the Tigers used six home runs to fly into their 14th College World Series appearance – and first since 2004. In the first inning, sophomore designated hitter Blake Dean, freshman catcher Micah Gibbs and junior first baseman Matt Clark hit back-to-back-to-back home runs to put LSU up 5-0. “Back-to-back-to-back home runs … you don’t see that very often,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “It just sent a message right away that we meant business.” The Tigers hit three straight homers in the postseason for the first time since 1998, when catchers Brad Cresse, Clint Earnhardt and outfielder Wes Davis hit three in a row against Mississippi State in the College World Series. Dean’s home run gives LSU two 20-home run hitters in the same season for the first time since 1998. Clark leads the team with 26 home runs. Dean finished the third game with five hits – an LSU record for the most hits in an NCAA tournament game. “A few of my hits were kind of cheap,” Dean said. “They jammed me a few times, and [my hits] stuck in there.” Sophomore second baseman Ryan Schimpf followed suit in the fifth-inning explosion by LSU with a solo homer to left field to push the score to 10-1. After three doubles and two walks in the inning, LSU led, 14-2. Schimpf wasn’t done, as he hit another home run, this time a two-run shot, to right field in the bottom of the seventh inning. Freshman outfielder Johnny Dishon hit a solo home run in the seventh inning, and junior infielder Buzzy Haydel hit another solo shot in the eighth inning to complete the Tigers’ home run barrage. The Tigers’ 21 runs are the highest total since a 22-11 game against Duquense on March 1. LSU collected 44 hits on the weekend against UC Irvine, which yielded opponents to a ..252 batting average entering the game. The series’ third game was a far cry from the Tigers’ first game of the series, which they lost, 11-5, and trailed 8-2 after seven innings. In the final 11 innings of the series, LSU outscored UC Irvine, 28-7. LSU’s offensive rally in the series was sparked by a solo home run by sophomore left fielder Jared Mitchell in the eighth inning of the second game. Even in the Saturday loss to UC Irvine, freshman shortstop DJ LeMahieu hit a towering two-run home run to right field in the eighth inning to make the score 11-4.
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