BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — For the first time in school history, LSU failed to reach the Southeastern Conference Tournament final needing only one win to reach the championship game, as the Fighting Tigers fell 10-8 and 5-4 to South Carolina Saturday at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
The Fighting Tigers (40-19) will return home Sunday, then wait to find out their NCAA tournament fate on Monday at 11:30 a.m. in a live announcement on ESPN2. While it is likely the Tigers will host a regional for the 13th consecutive year, it is also likely that the Tigers’ hopes for a top eight national seed and a chance to host a super regional have vanished.
League champion South Carolina (48-13) will take on West division champion Alabama (47-13) in the championship game Sunday at 3:05 p.m.
GAME ONE: SOUTH CAROLINA 10, LSU 8
South Carolina rallied for four runs in the eighth inning, scoring three off of LSU relief ace Jake Tompkins as the Gamecocks staved off elimination, 10-8.
Tompkins came in for Clay Harris in the eighth after Harris walked leadoff batter Yaron Peters. Trey Dyson grounded to first to move pinch runner Tim Seaton to second, but Tompkins then gave up a ground ball single to Justin Harris to score Seaton with the tying run, and Harris reached second on the throw home.
Landon Powell then grounded to Rocky Scelfo deep in the hole at second, and Tompkins dropped the throw from Scelfo covering first base, allowing Harris to score the go-ahead run. Drew Meyer doubled off the second wall in left to put runners on second and third, and Steve Thomas then put the game away with a two-run double just out of the reach of LSU right fielder Sean Barker.
Tompkins took his first loss of the season, giving up two unearned runs and an earned run in the eighth inning alone. Harris did not allow a hit in three-plus innings in relief of Tiger starter Brad David.
LSU fell behind 1-0 on a wild pitch by David that scored Meyer, but the Tigers took a 3-1 lead in the second as Matt Heath tied the game with a triple to score Barker, then Jon Zeringue launched a two-run homer to left for the lead.
The lead wouldn’t last, as the Gamecocks scored four times in the third. David retired the first batter of the frame, but quickly loaded the bases by giving up a hit to Meyer, hitting Steve Thomas and walking Brian Buscher. A single by Garris Gonce scored Meyer to cut the margin to 3-2, then Peters’ two-run double made it 4-3.
An RBI single by J.C. Holt and a double by Aaron Hill in the fourth tied the game at 5-5, and the Tigers would take the lead at 6-5 on Heath’s RBI single before the Gamecocks tied it again at 6-6 on a sacrifice fly by Peters that scored Gonce from second.
South Carolina 104 001 040– 10 11 1
LSU 030 211 010– 8 13 2
Chris Spigner, Matt Campbell (4), John Wesley (8) and Landon Powell; Brad David, Clay Harris (5), Jake Tompkins (8) and Chris Phillips.
WP-Campbell, 3-2.
LP-Tompkins, 5-1.
S-Wesley (1)
2B-USC: Yaron Peters, Drew Meyer, Steve Thomas; LSU: Aaron Hill, Blake Gill.
3B-LSU: Matt Heath
HR-LSU: Jon Zeringue (2).
T-3:07.
A-4,688.
GAME TWO: SOUTH CAROLINA 5, LSU 4
LSU had the bases loaded with a 5-4 deficit with no out in the top of the ninth, but a controversial interference call led to a double play and allowed the Gamecocks to hold on to eliminate LSU.
The Tigers started the ninth with back-to-back singles by Raymer and Phillips off of South Carolina starter Aaron Rawl, who went eight-plus innings in his longest career outing before giving way to relief ace Blake Taylor, the nation’s leader in saves.
Taylor, who gave up four runs on four hits in taking the loss on Thursday, gave up an infield hit to Holt to load the bases before walking Hill on a full count to make it 5-3 and then walked Pontiff to shave the margin to 5-4.
Sean Barker then hit a slow roller to Meyer at shortstop, and he forced Wally Pontiff at second, but second base umpire Ken Couch ruled that Pontiff did not attempt to slide, meaning Barker was out and putting runners on second and third. Gill then grounded weakly to first to end the game.
South Carolina had the game’s first scoring opportunity in the second, as Dyson reached on an error by Blake Gill, and a single by Gonce put runners on the corners, but Pettit retired the next three batters in order to end the inning.
LSU took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third on back-to-back two out doubles by Holt and Hill. Prior to those hits, the Tigers’ lone base runner came on a walk to Heath in the second.
That 1-0 scored held until the fifth when Thomas touched LSU starter Bo Pettit for the big blow of the game, a three-run home run that put the Gamecocks ahead 3-1. It was the first home run allowed by the Tigers in the SEC Tournament and first since May 12 at Florida.
An error by Kevin Melillo and back-to-back base hits by Gill and Zeringue scored Heath to cut the deficit to 3-2, but South Carolina scored two in the seventh on a triple by Meyer and a wild pitch by Pettit for a 5-2 lead.
Pettit struck out eight and threw hit third complete game of the season, but saw his personal three-game winning streak snapped to fall to 8-7.
LSU (40-19) 001 001 002– 4 9 2
South Carolina (48-13) 000 030 20x– 5 8 1
Bo Pettit and Chris Phillips; Aaron Rawl, Blake Taylor (9) and Landon Powell.
WP-Rawl, 5-0
LP-Pettit, 8-7.
S-Taylor (19).
2B-LSU: J.C. Holt, Aaron Hill. USC: Brian Buscher, Trey Dyson.
3B-USC: Drew Meyer.
HR-USC: Steve Thomas (10).
T-2:38.
A-8,610.