Wednesday night in Omaha felt momentous for LSU and Arkansas.
On one side, LSU, who defeated Arkansas to get off to a hot start in this College World Series, looking to take one more game to advance to the CWS Final.
On the other side, Arkansas, trying to fight their way through the losers’ bracket and win their first of two games necessary to make the Final.
Zac Cowan and Landon Beidelschies would get the ball from their respective squads and both starters would deliver. Cowan tossed 5.1 innings of one-run baseball, racking up six strikeouts and giving the Tiger bullpen the length it needed. Beidelschies would be even more phenomenal, striking out nine Tigers.
The first big swing came in the 4th inning as Ryder Helfrick punished a ball into center field giving the Hogs a 1-0 lead.
LSU would fight back in the 6th however, as pinch hitter Jake Brown would deliver a two-RBI single to give LSU the lead.
However in the 8th a dropped ball by Jared Jones on an attempted double play would allow two runs to score for Arkansas, giving the Razorbacks a 3-2 lead.
Jared Jones would immediately make up for his mistake in the bottom half of the 8th, smashing a solo home run to time the game at three heading into the ninth.
Justin Thomas Jr. would deliver a two-RBI single against Tiger reliever Jacob Mayers to give Arkansas a 5-3 lead, needing only three more outs to force a winner-take-all game Thursday.
However down to their final out, LSU would tie the game on a Luis Hernandez double, and Jared Jones would deliver once again, this time with a game-winning single off of Cam Kozeal’s glove to win the game 6-5 for LSU.
Wednesday’s walk-off marks the 6th walk-off for LSU in their CWS history, the 3rd most of any program.
LSU now gears up to face off against Coastal Carolina, the team that eliminated LSU in 2016 on their way to a National Title.
Game One of the CWS Final starts Saturday at 6 p.m. on ESPN.