BATON ROUGE — LSU took a 10-0 lead and then held on to defeat UCLA, 14-8, and advance to the College World Series for the 11th time in school history here in the second game of the NCAA Super Regional series held at Alex Box Stadium. LSU will play Texas in game four of the CWS on Saturday at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.
LSU improved to 48-17 on the season while UCLA fell to 38-26. Billy Brian pitched four innings of relief to improve to 6-2 in 2000. Closer Weylin Guidry picked up his seventh save of the season after pitching 1 1/3 innings with two strikeouts.
“It’s what tournaments are all about. Overall, I’m about as proud of this bunch as any team in the 17 years I’ve been here. A couple of month ago, I didn’t think so. We just didn’t play well. Our defense was shoddy, our offense was spotty and our pitching at times was non-existent. But everybody’s put it together now.”
Offensively, Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot and Wally Pontiff had three hits apiece for the Tigers.
LSU jumped on UCLA starter Josh Karp in the top of the first inning with a single by Ryan Theriot followed by back-to-back walks to Mike Fontenot and Brad Cresse. With consecutive sacrifice flies by Brad Hawpe and Blair Barbier, both to left center, LSU took a 2-0 lead.
The Tigers created another scoring opportunity in the top of the third when Fontenot led off the inning with a single off of Karp’s leg. After Karp tried to walk off the injury, Fontenot stole second on the first pitch to Cresse. Cresse then drove in Fontenot with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
With Hawpe at the place, Karp threw another wild pitch that catcher Forrest Johnson chased down in front of the UCLA dugout. Cresse advanced to third and then scored when Johnson knocked the ball into the dugout for UCLA’s 115th error of the season.
The Bruins put two runners on with singles by Randall Shelley and Matt Pearl in the bottom of the third. However, with only one out, Chase Utley grounded into a double play to end the inning.
After Karp allowed a single to Theriot to open the fourth, Theriot advanced to second ground ball by Fontenot and to third on a wild pitch. Karp was then lifted in favor of Jon Brandt with one out and runners on first and third. Karp pitched 3 1/3 innings and allowed five earned runs on six hits while walking four and striking out three.
On Brandt’s first pitch, Hawpe grounded into what looked to be an inning-ending double play. However, Utley, the Bruin second baseman, tossed the ball wildly to shortstop Josh Canales allowing Cresse to reach third and Hawpe to reach second. The two-base error scored Theriot for a 5-0 lead.
After Barbier was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Wally Pontiff singled to drive in Cresse. Once again, UCLA had a chance to end the inning with a double play, but Shelley, the third baseman, threw wide to second allowing Hawpe to score from third and keep the bases loaded. The error was the third of the game for the Bruins.
Witten then hit a sacrifice fly that drove in Barbier for a 8-0 lead before Ray Wright doubled to left to score Pontiff. Theriot, batting for the second time in the inning, reached on a bases on balls before Fontenot drove home Harris to give LSU a 10-0 lead.
UCLA scored its first two runs on a double by Garrett Atkins and an RBI triple off the centerfield wall by Bill Scott. Scott scored on the play when Barbier’s throw to third sailed into the UCLA dugout.
With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Shelley drove Gomez from the game with a three-run homer to right center field that cut the lead to 10-5.
Gomez pitched 3 1/3 innings and gave up five earned runs on seven hits while striking out two and walking one. Billy Brian entered in relief and registered the final two outs of the inning after walking the first batter he faced.
Witten opened the top of the sixth with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a balk by Brandt. Wright’s fly ball to deep center allowed Witten to tag and advance to third. Witten then scored on an infield single by Theriot to increase the lead to 11-5.
In the bottom of the seventh, UCLA cut the lead to four runs, 11-7, against Brian on the strength of a two-run homer by Utley to right center field.
LSU picked up a two-out insurance run in the top of the eighth when Ray Wright doubled to left, stole third and scored on a Fontenot single off of UCLA reliever Ryan Carter for a 12-7 lead. The run was charged to Brandt who was pulled after getting the second out in the eighth.
Brian was lifted with one on and one out in the bottom of the eighth after pitching four innings and giving up two runs on three hits. Hard-throwing lefthander Shane Youman earned the second out of the inning before walking Shelley and pinch hitter Adam Berry to load the bases. Weylin Guidry then entered in relief of Youman and walked in Johnson from third for UCLA’s eighth run. Utley then flew out to left center to end the inning.
LSU added two more in the top of the ninth for the final runs of the game.
?