BATON ROUGE — Jason Scobie scattered three hits in four scoreless innings to help first-seeded LSU advance to the championship round of the NCAA Regional at Alex Box Stadium with a 13-9 win over second-seeded Virginia Commonwealth Saturday afternoon.
The senior right-hander was one of five pitchers employed by Tiger coach Skip Bertman.
Virginia Commonwealth countered with five pitchers of their own, including first-baseman Danny Lopaze who walked in a run in the bottom of the eighth before striking out LSU lead-off batter Ryan Theriot with the bases loaded to end the inning.
LSU junior right-hander Roy Corcoran earned the win by allowing just one run in the last 2 1/3 innings to improve his record to 8-4.
Virginia Commonwealth starter Sean Marshall took the loss after giving up seven runs in just one inning of work dropping his record to 9-4.
The loss forces Virginia Commonwealth into a losers bracket game against third-seeded California Saturday night at Alex Box Stadium. The start of that game has been delayed by inclimate weather in the Baton Rouge area.
LSU will face the winner of the Virginia Commonwealth-California game Sunday at 1 p.m. central.
The Tigers are 20-1 under Bertman in NCAA Championship games including regional, super regional and College World Series play.
LSU scored in each of the first three innings, including a five-run second, to take an early 10-0 lead.
Virginia Commonwealth cut that lead in half by scoring five runs off of LSU reliever Shane Youman in the fifth inning.
VCU continued to cut into the LSU lead, scoring three runs in the seventh inning and one in the eighth to make the score 11-9.
But LSU added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth to extend its lead to 13-9.
LSU HEAD COACH SKIP BERTMAN
“This game set the game of baseball back a number of years. It was poorly played by LSU, but not Scobie, Scobie was very strong for the innings he pitched. I was going to take him out in the third, but after he fielded the ball I wanted to make sure he could pitch. Naturally, he came out so he can pitch tomorrow if necessary.”
“A lot of mistakes made today on defense. There was a lot of well hit balls caught by VCU. We hit some line drives, two in one inning. Offense did a reasonable job, but our defense and pitching especially after Scobie and before Roy obviously was sub-par.
LSU’S JASON SCOBIE
“I went out there, like Ive been saying, with a lot of confidence unlike earlier in the year. Last night we scouted their hitters and I learned a lot from scouting last night. VCUs four hole was probably their most effective hitter and the key was to shut that guy down. I was locating my fastball and my slider was going for strikes.”
LSU’S ROY CORCORAN
“Today I didnt have my change up and that is my best pitch. I was not able to throw it for strikes today. My best pitch today was my curveball and Coach knew that. He kept calling it and eventually I started getting it over the plate. My fastball finally came along and did well.”
LSU’S BRIAN MOORE
“I felt really good at the plate. I was just seeing the ball real well today. I was taking the pitches that I usually swing at. Just from working hard in the cage with Turtle and swinging at strikes.”
VCU HEAD COACH PAUL KEYES
“Well, I dont know if that was really a game, because it started out so bad for us- and then coach Bertmsan decided to go ahead and take his starter out and probably save him for later, and that really allowed us to get back in the game. Our starter was a freshman, and five years ago when we were here we had a guy who gave up I think nine in the first two innings. He went on to be a first round draft pick, so this place has a tendancy to do that to you.”
“I thought our kids battled, I told them in the fourth when they changed pitchers that we need to get back in the game but not use up a lot of energy. I really do not think we did, we walked, and took a lot of pitches. We knew their bullpen had been struggling, and they let us back in it a little. We had our best hitter up in the eighth with the bases loaded, and he grounded back to the mound. He was actually up twice, and thats all you can ask for. It was a good game, but wasns played that well. I thought both teams played well.”
Cal Eliminates Minnesota, 9-7
BATON ROUGE — Right fielder Rob Meyer and first baseman Clint Hoover each hit two-run home runs in the top of the first inning to help third-seeded California defeat fourth-seeded Minnesota 9-3 in game three of the NCAA Regional at Alex Box Stadium.
The two homers were part of a five-run first inning for the Golden Bears who eliminated Minnesota from regional play with the win.
Minnesota, the Big Ten Conference Tournament winner, finished the season with a 39-21 record.
California improved to 34-24 on the year and advanced to play the loser of Saturday’s second game between second-seeded Virginia Commonwealth and first-seeded LSU at approximately 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.
Minnesota starting pitcher Ben Birk gave up three runs on a walk and two hits, including Meyer’s home run, in just 2/3 of an inning.
Birk took the loss dropping his record to 2-3. California starter Jason Dennis scattered seven hits in 5 1/3 innings to improve his record to 5-3.
David Cash earned his fourth save of the year by one-hitting Minnesota over the last 3 2/3 innings.
Minnesota cut the California lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the first on a two-out two-run homer by first baseman Josh Holthaus.
But the California pitching staff kept the Minnesota hitters off-balance after that giving up just one run the rest of the contest.
The dangerous Minnesota batters, who banged out 18 hits in a near upset of LSU Friday, was limited to just eight by California.
The Golden Bears extended their lead by adding runs in fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
HEAD COACH JOHN ANDERSON
“I thought the whole game was the first inning. Ben Burke didn’t feel good in the bullpen but he wanted to go out there and give it a shot and he wasn’t able too. I’m not sure C.J.Woodrow was prepared to go out there in the first inning and pitch. We tried to get him ready as quickly as we could.”
“The five run first and we just weren’t able to overcome it. Give Cal a lot of credit they pitched very well, they played great defense and they got some timely hitting. At one point I think they had eight straight two-strike hits.”
“We just weren’t able to claw ourselves back in it by having a big game ourselves.”
“He (Burke) didn’t feel well in the bullpen before the game. He pitched the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament Sunday and he didn’t recover well. It was his first start in a long time and we just didn’t know he wouldn’t recover sooner. I applaud his effort today for giving it a shot and I applaud his effort coming back from being struck in the face by a line drive.”
“Congratulations to Cal. I thought the played outstanding. Also thanks to LSU and everyone associated with this tournament. The hospitality, the people and the way it’s run is absolutely first class.”
MINNESOTA THIRD BASEMEN, JACK HANNAHAN
“At the beginning of the year we were setting ourselves up on going to a regional and winning a regional. We caught some adversity losing two pitchers, one for the whole year and the other for almost the year.
“Overall, I think we played great baseball. We stuck together as a team when times got tough and we overcame a lot.”
MINNESOTA FIRST BASEMEN, JOSH HOLTHAUS
“I was looking for the change-up. He made a mistake and left it up.”
“Coming into the year we had expectations. A couple things went wrong, but the team stuck together. I think we played pretty well for what we had.”
CALIFORNIA HEAD COACH, DAVID ESQUER
“We are in a situation where we are playing for our season, playing for our lives. We got good pitching performances, one from Jason Dennis, who got us into the sixth inning, and David Cash, who came in and did what he has done all year, which is stabilize us and give us a good effort.”
“I couldn’t be any more happier about our pitching because when you get into these tournaments and you get into a regional, that’s what’s going to get you over the top. You have to pitch well. That was good for us.”
(On preparations for this evenings game) “We will try to get the players off their feet for a time. It is easier for us that the game is televised. We can track it on TV so we can see how far the game is along and we can be back in plenty of time to get ready for this evening.”
(On five-run first inning) “I thought it was the biggest part of the game. Yesterday we struggled scoring runs with runners in scoring position to get a big hit or contact. I thought scoring early in the game let our kids relax a little bit.”
CALIFORNIA FIRST BASEMAN, CLINT HOOVER
“I’m just starting to see the ball deep and let it happen. I’ve been pinch hitting lately and just trying to do too much. I just let it happen and took what the pitcher gave me.”
CALIFORNIA RIGHT FIELDER, ROB MEYER
“I wouldn’t even count the first homerun. I sliced it, and it just got up in the wind. The only ball I really hit hard all day was the second homerun, and I was fortunate enough to end up with three hits.”
“I wasn’t feeling very good at the plate. I was trying to do some things with my swing in BP, but it ended up turning out pretty good today.”
VCU Eliminates Cal, Advances to Championship Round, 11-2
by Chris Macaluso
LSUsports.net/AP
BATON ROUGE, La.— Virginia Commonwealth starting pitcher Marc Fisher set a career high with 14 strikeouts as the second-seeded Rams defeated the third-seeded California Golden Bears 11-2 to advance to the championship round of the NCAA Regional at Alex Box Stadium Saturday night.
Fisher improved his record to 7-5 with the complete game seven-hitter.
California starter Brian Montalbano was the loser. He ended the season with a 4-1 record.
The win improved Virginia Commonwealth’s record to 40-18 and set up a rematch with first-seeded LSU (43-19-1) in Sunday’s championship game.
LSU defeated VCU 13-9 in game four Saturday afternoon, forcing the Rams into Saturday night’s elimination contest.
VCU would have to defeat LSU twice Sunday to advance to super regional play next weekend.
The championship round is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. central time.
California was eliminated from the tournament, finishing the season with a 34-25 record.
Golden Bears’ right fielder Rob Meyer opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a solo home run that sailed well over the left field bleachers.
VCU tied the game in the top of the second on an RBI single to left by third baseman Nick Jones.
The Rams then took the lead for good by scoring five runs in the third, three in the fourth and one in the fifth to take a 10-1 lead.
Sunday’s game will mark the third time VCU has advanced to a regional final.
The defending national champion Tigers will be playing in their 13th regional championship round.