OMAHA, Neb. — Senior Ben Saxon has been called upon to start LSU’s College World Series winner’s bracket game against Southern Cal, head coach Skip Bertman announced Sunday. Listen to the the Tigers and Trojans square off at 2 p.m. CDT Monday right here on LSUsports.net.?
LSU (49-17) and USC (44-18) are two of the hottest teams in the nation right now, as the Tigers have won 10 straight games and the Trojans have won 16, their longest winning streak since 1988.
Southern Cal advanced by beating Florida State, 6-4, in Saturday’s third game of the CWS.
Bertman also said that senior righthander Trey Hodges may be first out of the bullpen. LSU has it’s entire bullpen available to pitch after starter Brian Tallet went 7 1/3 innings in Saturday’s 13-5 win over Texas. Fellow starter Hunter Gomez pitched the final 1 1/3 innings and would be available along relievers with Shane Youman, Heath McMurray and Weylin Guidry.
Mark Prior, a 6-5 sophomore transfer from Vanderbilt, will start for Southern Cal. Prior pitched for the U.S. National Team in 1999 and was a Freshman All-American at Vanderbilt. ? He made the Baseball America preseason All-American second team. In 1998, Prior was chosen as a “sandwich pick” (43rd overall) in the Major League amateur draft by the New York Yankees.
Prior improved to 10-6 with a 6-3 victory over Georgia Tech to send the Trojans to the College World Series on June 3. He pitched eight innings (126 pitches) and allowed only one run on six hits while walking three and striking out five. He threw two wild pitches and hit one batter in the win.
In April of 1999, LSU roughed up Prior during his freshman season for eight runs in five innings pitched.
Saxon, 5-0 in 2000 with a 4.40 earned run average, has pitched in 18 games and started eight for the Tigers. In 61 1/3 innings, he has allowed 37 runs on 75 hits while striking out 28 and walking 15.
On May 26, his last outing, Saxon pitched a complete game (96 pitches) against Jackson State while giving up one run on eight hits. He struckout three and walked two in LSU’s first game of the NCAA Subregional in Baton Rouge.
These two teams have combined to win three of the past four College World Series championships, as LSU won in 1996 and 1997 while USC beat Arizona State for the title in 1998. The Trojans have 12 national titles while LSU has four.
Southern Cal eliminated LSU from the 1998 CWS after coming out of the loser’s bracket to take consecutive victories over LSU, 5-4 and 7-3.