A brand new opponent awaits LSU baseball in the NCAA Super Regional with a ticket to Omaha on the line.
The tournament continues in Baton Rouge on Saturday after the Tigers emerged victorious from their home regional. They will face the unknown in a three-game series with West Virginia as the two face off for the first time in program history.
The 64-team field was narrowed to 16 after a grueling round of regional play that toppled the nation’s top two seeds, Vanderbilt and Texas. The remaining teams are paired up for a best-of-three matchup, and the eight winners will head to the College World Series.
Selected as the No. 6 overall seed after the SEC tournament, LSU secured the group’s top seed and a regional at Alex Box.
There, the Tigers shut out No. 4 Little Rock and No. 2 Dallas Baptist in dominant fashion.
Little Rock fought back after its initial loss by toppling the No. 2 and 3 seeds to secure a revenge match with LSU. Then, the Trojans shocked the college baseball world with a 10-4 upset.
Now with one loss each, the deciding game took place on Monday to declare the region’s champions.
After a monster second inning for Little Rock, it led 5-1, but the home team reversed the order and ended the underdog’s run.
Over in the Clemson Regional, West Virginia entered the tournament as the group’s No. 2 seed, and the team survived the double-elimination round by the skin of their teeth.
After trailing for the majority of their innings, the Mountaineers used late-game rallies to come back and win in all three regional games.
In Game 1, they walked off No. 3 Kentucky after recovering from a 3-0 deficit.
Tied up in the bottom of the ninth, senior Brodie Kresser led off the batters with a double and got to third on a passed ball. Armani Guzman hit a sacrifice fly to center field, bringing Kresser home.
WVU found the bats in the first inning of Game 2 against Clemson and scored three runs for the early lead. Eventually, the home team made up the ground and tied the game 5-5 for a final inning showdown.
WVU took advantage of Clemson’s poor pitching and got the go-ahead run with Sam White’s RBI double. The team tallied three more, including two hit-by-pitches that resulted in runs.
The winner-takes-all rematch against Kentucky saw WVU produce two six-run innings to steal the lead both times from the Wildcats.
With Kentucky up 12-7 at the bottom of the eighth, hope was all but lost.
In its half of the inning, WVU loaded the bases with two outs. White got a walk and scored one, followed by Gavin Kelly and Ben Lumsden, who each singled to bring in two runners.
Suddenly, the score was 13-12, and Kentucky was the team under pressure.
The Mountaineers ran through their pitching staff, using eight on Sunday. Ace Griffin Kirn was brought out onto the mound for the final inning, and the left-handed pitcher was able to help close the door on Kentucky.
White is the team’s leading batter on the stat sheet with an average of .352, just shy of LSU’s Ethan Frey’s .359 average.
Yet, Guzman was named the Regional’s Most Outstanding Player, the third baseman was responsible for three RBIs in the regional final, including a single in the eighth that gave WVU the go-ahead run.
While it will be the pair’s first-ever meeting, this isn’t the only time the Tigers were slated to face the team in a super regional.
In 2024, LSU needed to escape the North Carolina Regional to play WVU in the super regional, but fell short in the double-elimination final.
This year, the Tigers made a step in the right direction, securing their date with destiny. Now, they have a bigger target: win and book a trip to Nebraska.
Game 1 of the series will be Saturday, June 7 at 1 p.m. CT with Game 2 set on Sunday, June 8 at 5 p.m. If necessary, a final game will be scheduled on Monday, June 9.
In a series with no history, a new story will be written–and for one, it ends in Omaha.
