OMAHA, Neb. — LSU’s trademark all season has been overcoming adversity. From the tragic death of team captain Wally Pontiff last summer, to losing nine key players for the season due to injury, to all the doubts on whether this team belonged in Omaha, LSU proved itself as a team that never gives up and one that plays with toughness and heart.
The Tigers overcame adversity Sunday at the College World Series, but when the smoke cleared on one of the more exciting college baseball games in recent years at Rosenblatt Stadium, South Carolina pulled out an 11-10 win over the Tigers, ending LSU’s 2003 baseball season.
Click here to see more pictures
“You have to give this team credit, they’ve overcome a ton of obstacles,” said LSU coach Smoke Laval. “Never transfered the blame. Never gave the ‘what if?’ And I don’t think they ever will.
“This unit is a bunch of individuals, who seven to ten years from now, are all going to be very successful in life and professional baseball.”
LSU showed its poise and character when it could have easily folded after the first inning.
Down 6-0 in the first, the Tigers scrapped and clawed their way back into the game and eventually narrowed the score to 7-5 after the third inning.
Home runs from Clay Harris and Quinn Stewart in the second inning sparked the rally, and RBIs on a sacrifice fly from Blake Gill and a walk from Stewart in the third helped narrow the gap.
The Tigers broke through with a 9-7 lead in the fourth on RBI hits from Ryan Patterson, Harris, Jon Zeringue and a sacrifice fly from Stewart, who finished with four RBIs.
LSU took a 10-7 lead in the fifth when Matt Liuzza scored on a South Carolina error and the Tigers carried that lead into the seventh.
“The kids battled real well and were able to come back,” Laval said. “It takes a little bit of the adrenaline away if you keep battling and battling, and I can’t say we lost our competiveness. But we kind of felt satisfied and sat back and waited for pitches.”
South Carolina’s Kevin Melillo hit a solo home run to cut to the lead to 10-8, and in the eighth the Gamecocks scored three runs on an LSU error and RBI hits from Brian Buscher and Landon Powell.
Gamecocks pitcher Matt Campbell (6-4) got the win, holding the Tigers for 5 1/3 innings and only giving up one unearned run.
“What an exciting baseball game,” said South Carolina coach Ray Tanner. “I knew in the first inning when we put six runs on the board that [LSU] would be back. I was just hoping we’d be able to put some more on the board ourselves.”
Billy Sadler (1-2) took the loss for the Tigers after relieving Jason Determann in the eighth. Determann came on in the first inning for Bo Pettit and pitched 6 2/3 innings with four runs and gave the Tigers a chance to get back into the game. Pettit, who has been plagued by a blister on a finger on his pitching hand, was unable to get out of the first inning and gave up six runs in 2/3 of an inning.
“Jason Determann came in and did a tremendous job and got the momentum on our side.,” Pettit said. “He’s been doing that all year. It’s not the way I wanted to go out. These guys have picked me up all year when I’ve had those bad first innings. To get two outs in the first and not be able to get the third, that’s something that is going to stick with me for a while. My hat goes off to the hitters and how we were able to get back into the game.
“”This team has worked real hard to get where we’re at right now. It’s not satisfying just to get here. We came here on a business trip. We came here to win. It’s tough to see the look on some of the guys’ faces. We worked real hard to get here this season. A lot of people counted us out.”
The Tigers – who made their first trip to the College World Series since winning it in 2000 – finished their season at 45-22-1 and Southeastern Conference regular season champions after beginning the year 6-6.
“I tip my hat to this club,” Laval said. “You never want to go home. We would have liked to win today. We would like to win them all. But, we’ve just got to get a little bit better at it. Probably take [Monday] off and start working on next year Tuesday morning.”
“I am anxious to see where this book unfolds. Remember, it was tough being in the same book, let alone the same chapter. And once we got on the same page, you saw what happened. It got us to Omaha. The teams before, the national championships and the non-national championships, they helped pave the way. This is more pavement. Sooner or later we’re going to cross that bridge and start building again. I’m not down, I’m not disappointed.”
Click here to see more pictures