Alcorn State hire blurs racial barrier in sports … a good thing
June 5, 2012
Hornets win lottery, will likely land UK star Davis
June 5, 2012
The setting may have been LSU’s new, comfy 10,000-plus seat ballpark.
But make no mistake about it – there was a little bit of Ol’ Alex Box Stadium magic in play Sunday night in Baton Rouge.
Down 5-3 in the top of the 7th inning, the Tigers woke up the echoes of postseason past, stringing together runs in the 7th, 9th and 10th innings to secure a dramatic 6-5 extra innings win over Oregon State in the NCAA Regionals.
The final blow was a wild pitch that plated Austin Nola from third base to give the LSU the lead.
Wild is an appropriate word to sum up the entire ballgame, which pushed the Tigers into the Super Regionals.
“Obviously, it was a tremendous victory for our team,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “It was truly a tremendous victory. This was a total team victory. It was tough. It was a grind out there, it really was.”
“I can’t even describe the feeling,” LSU outfielder Alex Edward added. “Being in the stands is one thing, but having 10,500 people cheering and screaming behind your back? There’s no better feeling than that.”
Edward referenced the sell-out crowd of 11,036 fans that watched Sunday night’s game.
They were making noise right from the get-go. That’s because the Tigers struck early, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning, chasing Beavers starter Taylor Starr, who recorded just one out and threw only 19 pitches.
The big bop in the opening frame was a two-run home run from Tigers cleanup hitter Raph Rhymes.
“[Starr] looked uncomfortable out there,” Beavers coach Pat Casey said. “In his last outing I think he went about seven innings against Oregon and shut them out. He just looked uncomfortable.”
With a new pitcher in the game, Oregon State seemed to find its comfort zone.
The Beavers struck for single runs in the 1st, 2nd and 4th innings to draw even with the Tigers at 3-3.
They took the lead in the bottom of the sixth and added two more.
They did so while reliever Scott Schultz fired flames LSU’s way.
The lanky reliever pitched eight and two-thirds innings and allowed just three hits and two runs (one earned), while striking out nine hitters in 103 pitches.
But the reliever came a bit unglued in the ninth inning and allowed a leadoff double to Ty Ross to start the rally and another double from Edward to scratch home the tying run.
LSU had trimmed the Beavers’ margin to 5-4 in the 7th inning when senior third baseman Tyler Hanover plated Tri-parish native Grant Dozar after Oregon State third baseman Ryan Dunn booted a grounder.
Dunn committed four errors in the game. Casey said Schultz’s ability to wiggle around both the Tigers’ lineup and his own defense was impressive.
“He was electric,” Casey said. “He threw the ball on both sides of the plate with command of three pitches. I thought he dominated for a long period of time there especially during about a three inning stretch there where he was sharp.”
But with extra innings on the menu, the Beavers opted to pull Schultz from the game.
That decision, coupled with solid at-bats from the top of LSU’s order set up the team’s wild pitch 10th-inning victory.
Once in control, closer Nick Goody closed the door in the bottom half of the 10th, sending the Beavers back to the Northwest in a 1-2-3 frame.
Goody had come into the game struggling lately, having blown a couple of late-season saves.
“What Nick Goody did, I tell you, that’s true closing,” Mainieri said. “To close a championship with a one-run lead and throw the ball the way he did – that’s why you have to stick with people that have that kind of talent.”
The win capped an unbeaten weekend for LSU.
The Tigers started the Baton Rouge Regional with a 4-1 win against a pesky UL-Monroe.
With the score tied at one in the top of the 7th inning, the Warhawks pushed the bases loaded with one out – a situation that had LSU fans on the edges of their seats.
But Tigers true freshman starter Aaron Nola worked out of the mess, inducing a 4-6-3 double play to keep the game tied.
LSU matched Nola’s work with three runs in the bottom half of the inning to push the game to its final margin.
Nola worked eight innings and allowed just four hits, while striking out 10 hitters in what was the first postseason start of his LSU career.
“I thought Aaron was throwing excellent baseball,” Mainieri said. “He’s mature beyond his years.”
A day after Nola’s gem, LSU ace Kevin Gausman spun one of his own Saturday night, winning his 11th game of the season in a 7-1 Tigers shellacking of Oregon State.
LSU’s dominant righty allowed seven hits and just one run in eight innings of baseball, which improved the pitcher to 11-1 on the season.
With Gausman recording outs, the Tigers made use of clutch hitting, scoring seven runs on just eight hits to push the Baton Rouge Regional to Sunday’s thriller.
“I’ve had Kevin now for almost two full years, and nothing the kid does amazes me anymore,” Mainieri said. “He has gotten better every week. Today, maybe, wasn’t as sharp as he’s been in previous weeks. He just showed another side of himself, how he could just battle through not being as fine as he normally is.”
With the Regional win, the Tigers will now host a Super Regional this weekend at Alex Box Stadium.
Their opponent will be No. 4-seed Stony Brook, who beat UCF in the finals of the Miami region.
The cinderella story will have to overcome history, as LSU is 5-0 in home Super Regionals since the NCAA adopted that format in the 1990s.
“It’s very exciting, but we know we have to take it one step at a time here,” Austin Nola said. “We have very solid ball clubs all around us in the postseason, and we have to play our best every game.”
LSU relief pitcher Chris Cotton fires a pitch during LSU’s Regional finale against Oregon State. The Tigers swept through the Baton Rouge Regional and pushed into Super Regional play. The team awaits the winner between Central Florida and Stony Brook – two teams that met Monday night with a score unavailable at press time.
