Sophomore pitcher Alex Lange administered a 2-0 fastball to Coastal Carolina designated hitter G.K. Young that he belted over the left field wall.
When Young took his trip around the bases, it was to the tune of a mute Alex Box Stadium crowd, which turned into a reoccurring theme for LSU. The Chanticleers’ powerful bats chased LSU ace Alex Lange out of the game for one of his shorter starts of the season.
Coastal Carolina scored nine runs across three innings to carry them to a 11-8 victory, putting the Tigers in must-win game two to keep their season alive.
Lange (8-4) battled for five innings with a lineup that came into the game with a total of 91 home runs during its regular season. Trailing 4-2 in the top of the sixth, Coastal Carolina’s offense plated four runs off the Tigers’ hurler.
“It started out as a very exciting game for us,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “I thought Alex Lange was really pitching really good baseball for four five innings.”
The offensive explosion didn’t stop there. Senior outfielder Rick Owings and third baseman Zach Remillard went yard on back-to-back occasions in the top of the sixth to pad the Chants lead to 9-4, which LSU would never recover from.
The majority of the Chants’ hits came against Lange, and the heart of the Chanticleers’ lineup, its 3-4-5 hitters each hit a home run and combined for four RBIs.
“It hurts to let your teammates down like that,” Lange said. “That’s what sucks. It’s just disappointing. It’s obviously not the result we were looking for.”
Facing a 9-4 deficit in the bottom of the seventh, LSU’s rally was quickly halted.
Coastal Carolina coach Gary Gilmore called on his All-American closer Mike Morrison, who on the season has inherited 37 base runners, but only nine scored against him. So when he came into the game against LSU junior shortstop Kramer Robertson, he retired Robertson and the next two batters with ease.
At one point LSU did have a slim lead against the Chants, but that quickly faded away.
Sophomore Greg Deichmann’s thunderous swing grabbed a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth and freshman outfielder Antoine Duplantis’ RBI single gave LSU a 4-2 advantage. Deichmann continued his hot streak, and now has four home runs and 13 RBIs in the NCAA tournament.
If junior pitcher Jared Poche’ “feels good,” he’ll start tomorrow’s decisive game. Despite being put into a tight position, Mainieri reminded his team of instances in the past when LSU rallied to win the last two games of the Super Regional series.
“We’ve lost the first game of the series before and come back to win two in a row,” Mainieri said. “That’s the mindset we’re going to have and live it all out there on the field.
“Our backs are against the wall. There’s no hiding that fact. We know that. But we’re giving the ball to a kid we have a lot of confidence in, and I know our kids are going to be tough-minded.”
