Playball
Go Tigers
Go Tigers
LSU starting pitcher had nothing
Wake 2-0
Wake 2-0
Tigers get 1 back
End of 2
Wake 2-1
End of 2
Wake 2-1
Big 3rd inning for the Tigers
They get 4
LSU 5-2
They get 4
LSU 5-2
Nice big inning
Tigers dodge trouble
Middle 7
LSU 5-2
Middle 7
LSU 5-2
LSU tops No. 1 Wake Forest to set up rematch for spot in MCWS finals.
OMAHA, Neb. -- LSU staved off elimination from the Men's College World Series for a second time. And now the Tigers are right where they expected to be all along.Cade Beloso hit a go-ahead three-run homer, freshman Griffin Herring pitched 4⅔ innings of shutout relief in his longest outing and LSU forced a second-bracket final with a 5-2 victory over No. 1 national seed Wake Forest on Wednesday night.
The winner of the rematch Thursday night will advance to play Florida in the best-of-three championship series that starts Saturday. The Gators clinched their spot with a 3-2 win over TCU.
"We expect to be playing important baseball in June," Tigers coach Jay Johnson said. "We play every game like we're playing important baseball in June. Like, the Tuesday on March 22 against McNeese is a playoff game to us. The thought process behind that is if you do that all year long, then you can just stay in character when you get to the postseason."
Wake Forest (54-11) will look to bounce back from its first loss in its eight NCAA tournament games. The Demon Deacons, who have not lost consecutive games this season, are trying to reach the championship round in their first MCWS appearance since the 1955 team won the national title.
"We'll come out ready to play tomorrow like we've done all year," Wake Forest coach Tom Walter said. "We've responded to adversity all year. Tomorrow will be no different."
LSU hopes to set up a rematch of the 2017 finals, which Florida won.
"It's the same game we've been playing since February," Beloso said. "We're going to go out there, have fun, we're going to compete to the best of our abilities and let the rest take care of itself. Everybody knows the scenario. But you don't have to put any more pressure on yourself."
The coaches didn't announce starting pitchers, but aces Paul Skenes of LSU and Rhett Lowder of Wake Forest were not ruled out.
The Deacons scored 75 runs and hit 19 homers in their first five NCAA tournament games, all played at home. They have just eight runs -- their fewest over three games since April 2021 -- and one homer at Charles Schwab Field, where the wind has blown in for three days. They're batting .198 here, and leading hitter Nick Kurtz is 0-for-9, while Justin Johnson is 0-for-12.
"We play in a pretty small ballpark, and the balls that usually go out there aren't going out here," Wake Forest's Pierce Bennett said. "We just need to adjust on keeping hard and low line drives. It's hard to do. Hitting's hard. You can't really intentionally do that all the time. But just focusing in, zeroing in on just hitting line drives, finding the holes."
The Tigers erased a 2-0 deficit in the third inning when Dylan Crews scored on a wild pitch to tie it before Beloso launched Seth Keener's 2-0 offering into the right-field bullpen. As Beloso approached the plate, he pulled his helmet off, chest-bumped Gavin Dugas and slapped Tre' Morgan's arm -- and all three then did cross-arm flexes in front of their celebrating dugout.
It was only the fourth homer surrendered by Keener in 69 innings this season.
Herring, who hadn't pitched since June 5 and had never gone more than three innings, steadied the Tigers after starter Javen Coleman and Blake Money combined to get just five outs.
The left-hander entered with LSU down two runs and held one of the country's top offenses scoreless.
"Pure adrenaline," Herring said. "This place is awesome. I think I kind of was able to feed off the adrenaline instead of letting it get to me, kind of like a steroid shot. Pretty cool."
Coach Johnson drew laughs when he interjected: "We'll make sure adrenaline is not on the NCAA banned substance list."
Herring allowed three hits, walked one and struck out six. He left with runners at the corners and one out in the sixth.
Gavin Guidry came on and struck out national home run co-leader Brock Wilken and Justin Johnson to end the threat. The Deacons got two runners on in the eighth before Riley Cooper, who shut out Tennessee over the last three innings on Tuesday, got Tommy Hawke to line out.
Cooper, who earned his second save in as many nights and third of the season, worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to strike out Kurtz and Wilken and got Johnson to ground out to end the game and set up the winner-take-all bracket final.
"It's just another game," Bennett said. "Bottom line: We've been doing it all year. Haven't lost a series all year. Knock on wood on that one."
The #1 team in the world is +175
Holy shit
Holy shit
Thank you for the explanation
Omaha dreams of moments like this, where Rhett Lowder and Paul Skenes could go head-to-head in MCWS.
OMAHA, Neb.— Now, if only the coaches from LSU and Wake Forest write down the names of two certain pitchers on their lineup cards for Thursday night. Please.Imagine the buzz. LSU’s Paul Skenes, with his fastball making the radar gun smoke as he strikes out batters in waves. Wake Forest’s Rhett Lowder with his perfect 15-0 record. The pitcher who has rarely been touched, against the pitcher who hasn’t been beaten.
LSU vs. Wake Forest at the Men’s College World Series was already compelling for several reasons.
Winner to the championship finals, loser to the airport.
LSU was ranked No. 1 much of the season. Then Wake Forest was. They've met here twice already and split.
LSU would join Florida in an all-SEC finals. Wake Forest would show the world that other leagues get to play in that, too.
Wake Forest is trying to get to the finals for the first time in 68 years. LSU has been there seven times since 1991.
LSU has the momentum from beating the Demon Deacons 5-2 Wednesday night to force the issue. “Everybody knows the scenario,” said Cade Beloso, who sent a home run toward downtown Omaha for the Tigers in the game. “But you don’t have to put any more pressure on yourself. Just go out there and have fun.”
Wake Forest has to get over the disappointment of Wednesday’s lost opportunity. The Demon Deacons had not taken a defeat or faced elimination in the tournament but now this will have to be done the hard way. “We’ve responded to adversity all year,” coach Tom Walter said Wednesday night. “Tomorrow will be no different.”
Now, if only . . .
Is LSU’s Skenes judged to be rested enough for this after four days? Is Wake Forest’s Lowder? That would be something. The nation’s two most renowned starting pitchers this season, eyeball-to-eyeball. Or more to the point, right arm-to-right arm.
They are both 21, born 12 weeks apart in 2002 on opposite coasts. Skenes is the native Californian, Lowder is from North Carolina.
Skenes leads the nation in strikeouts with 200. Lowder is sixth with 137.
Skenes is second in the country in earned run average at 1.81. Lowder is fifth at 1.99.
Lowder leads the nation in wins with his 15-0. Skenes is tied for second at 12-2.
Skenes’ strikeout-walk ratio is 200-19. Lowder’s is 137-22.
Skenes had a 4,76 grade point average in high school. Lowder was president of his high school chapter of the National Art Honor Society.
Skenes is 6-6, Lowder 6-2.
Skenes went 7.2 innings against Tennessee last Saturday, striking out 12 and hitting 100 miles-an-hour 46 times. Lowder did not leave vapor trails like that in his Saturday game against Stanford, but he pitched into the sixth and allowed only two runs.
Neither coach would say for certain Wednesday night the plan for the next day, but if both pitchers go to the mound, consider the challenge on each side.
LSU would be in a must-win situation against a pitcher who has never lost a game this year. “We’re not going to make it anything bigger than it is,” Beloso said. “It’s the same game we’ve been playing since February.”
Wake Forest would have to relight its suddenly dormant offense against a flamethrower who has been the talk of the sport with his velocity and variety of pitches. The Demon Deacons lineup that came storming into the MCWS averaging 15 runs an outing in the NCAA tournament has scored only eight times in three games and is hitting .198. They have gone homerless in consecutive games for the first time in more than two months. Wednesday was the first time in 111 games they did not have an extra-base hit. Nick Kurtz, who arrived in Omaha with a .370 batting average, 24 home runs and 69 RBI, is 0-for-9 here with five strikeouts. Justin Johnson, whose numbers were .341-16-76, is 0-for-12 with five strikeouts.
“If we’re going to make a run at this title,” Walter said, “we’re going to need those two guys to get rolling.”
They might have to do it against a bunch of pitches coming in at 101.
Could be a High Noon duel with fastballs Thursday night. Omaha positively dreams of moments like this.
Before the tournament odds
College World Series 2023 College World Series Odds to Win 91007 Texas A&M +170 
91014 Wake Forest +350 91006 Florida +700 91000 LSU +700 91004 Arkansas +850 91005 Vanderbilt +1000 91001 Tennessee +1400 91034 Clemson +1800 91012 Virginia +1800 91039 South Carolina +2000 91002 Stanford +2000 91037 Kentucky +2500 91009 Texas +2500 91030 East Carolina +3000 91018 Auburn +3500 91111 Coastal Carolina +4000 91032 Maryland +4000 91025 Miami FL +4000 91011 Oklahoma State +4000 91020 TCU +4000 91113 Campbell +5000 91115 Dallas Baptist +5000 91112 Duke +5000 91038 Florida State +5000 91114 Southern Miss +5000 91026 Southern Mississippi +5000 91022 Oregon +7500
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