On an afternoon where the heat index in Baton Rouge reached 104 degrees, the LSU’s bats were the hottest thing in town.
LSU took care of business in game one of the Baton Rouge Super Regional on Saturday. The Tigers defeated West Virginia, 16-9, thanks to an offensive onslaught in the middle innings. The win puts them one win away from a 23rd trip to the College World Series.
LSU fell behind by a run in the second inning and was held without a hit until the fourth inning. When the Tigers got into the hit column in the fourth they did so in a loud way, as Derek Curiel launched a three-run home run into left field to give the Tigers a lead they would not let go of.
“I saw the slider pop,” Curiel said of the pitch he took deep. “It looked big to me, so I went to go swing at it and put a good swing on it.”
Curiel was placed seventh in the LSU batting order after batting first for much of the season. The change did not sully the freshman’s production. Curiel ended up reaching on all five of his trips to the plate, and going 3-3 with a home run and five RBI.
LSU chased West Virginia starting pitcher Griffin Kirn with nobody out in the fourth, the first of three pitchers the Tigers would end up getting to in just that inning. West Virginia deployed six arms overall in the loss.
It would be the very next inning that saw LSU put the game out of reach. LSU put up seven runs in the fifth. Steven Milam hit his first career grand slam to start the scoring, before Derek Curiel notched his fourth RBI of the afternoon on a single. Chris Stanfield singled to close out the scoring in the inning, bringing Curiel and Daniel Dickinson home.
The Mountaineer pitching staff allowed eight walks, where six of those runners would come around to score. This includes two walks to Curiel and pinch-hitter Ashton Larson in the sixth inning, which came with the bases loaded to drive in a pair of runs. One of those runs reached base initially because of a walk.
The walked in runs came in the sixth inning, the last of three consecutive scoring innings for LSU. The fourth, fifth, and sixth innings were also the only ones that LSU managed to score in. LSU would tack four runs on top of the two driven in from walks when senior outfielder Josh Pearson hit a grand slam to push the LSU run total to 16.
Pearson batted first for LSU, an unfamiliar spot in the lineup for him but one he embraced.
“I came today and got ready to go,” Pearson said about his reaction to his spot in the order. “And saw my name was in the lead-off spot, and I knew I had a job to do and had to get the job done.”
Kade Anderson took the ball for LSU and gave the Tigers the platform they needed to succeed. The lefty only allowed one run through his first five innings: a groundout that scored a run after a pair of back-to-back hits in the second.Anderson was struck on the arm on the second of those hits, but remained in the game. “I thought that there’s no excuse and just keep going,” Anderson said about the incident. After getting checked by a trainer and Head Coach Jay Johnson, Anderson wouldn’t give up a hit until the fifth inning.
His sharpness fell off due to his pitch count, the temperatures, and having to wait between long LSU half-innings. With the lead as big as it was Anderson was left in. He lost his stuff and as such his final line won’t be much to gleam about, he still earned the win. The result means that LSU won every home game that Anderson started in this season, going 10-0.
“Proud of Kade for gutting through that,” Johnson said of Anderson’s performance. “That was not easy.”
Over 12,000 fans endured the heat to root for the Tigers, a number that impacted the game. The Mountaineers, who led the country in road wins this year, were left shellshocked once the LSU offense got going and the fans got loud.
“I think it was probably the loudest stadium we played in,” West Virginia designated hitter Sam White said. “This was the loudest it’s been, for sure.”
LSU now sits one win away from yet another trip to Omaha. The pitching matchup will likely be Anthony Eyanson for LSU pitching against West Virginia’s Jack Kartsonas. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT and will be broadcasted on ESPN2.
