GAME TWO STORY — LSU 12, UL-Lafayette 2
BATON ROUGE — Pitching on just one day rest, LSU pitcher Brian Wilson notched the most important win of his career, twirling a complete game and scattering eight hits as the Fighting Tigers pulled off another regional comeback from the loser’s bracket by defeating Louisiana-Lafayette, 12-2, in the championship game of the Baton Rouge regional Sunday night at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU had earlier forced a second championship game by spanking the Cajuns by the identical 12-2 score.
LSU will face Rice University this weekend in the NCAA Baseball Super Regional at Reckling Park in Houston. Reckling Park is located on the Rice campus. Game times are 7 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday (if necessary). The winner of the best two-of-three series advances to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
Rice will practice at Reckling Park on Thursday from 1:00-2:15 p.m.; LSU’s practice will follow from 2:30-3:45 p.m. A press conference will be held at 4:00 p.m. at Reckling Park featuring the head coaches and selected players from each team.
LSU will be headquartered (beginning on Thursday) at the Crown Plaza Hotel, 6701 South Main Street, Houston, TX 77030. The hotel phone number is (713) 797-1110.
NCAA SUPER REGIONAL SCHEDULE
Thursday, June 6
Rice Practice 1:00-2:15 p.m. Reckling Park
LSU Practice 2:30-3:45 p.m. Reckling Park
Press Conference 4:00 p.m. Reckling Park
Friday, June 7
Game 1 7:00 p.m. Reckling Park
Saturday, June 8
Game 2 2:00 p.m. Reckling Park
Sunday, June 9
Game 3 (if nec.) 1:00 p.m. Reckling Park
LSU (44-20) advances to the super regional round for the fourth time in as many years since the current tournament format was adopted in 1999. The Tigers will play national number four seed Rice (50-12) in a best-of-three series beginning Friday, at the Owls’ Reckling Park in Houston.
Wilson, who lasted just four-plus innings in the Tigers’ regional opener against Southern, hurled his first complete game since a three-hit shutout on April 27 against Arkansas. Wilson struck out seven and threw 126 pitches just 48 hours after throwing 87 pitches against Southern.
The Tigers have now won five regional championships when needing two wins in the final round, also doing so in 1989, 1990, 1997 and 1999. LSU is now 23-4 in NCAA Tournament championship round play, including a perfect 5-0 in the College World Series.
UL-Lafayette (39-23) came into today needing just one win to advance to its third super regional in the last four years, but the Cajuns never led in either game on Sunday and yielded 24 runs in two games to an LSU team that had scored a grand total of one in three previous meetings, all Ragin’ Cajun victories.
Less than an hour after wrapping up its 12-2 victory, LSU started quickly as leadoff batter J.C. Holt tripled off the center-field wall and eventually scored the game’s first run on a ground out by Wally Pontiff.
The 1-0 score would hold until the top of the fourth, when the Cajuns tied the game on a sacrifice fly by Justin Bourque, although the Cajuns had loaded the bases at the time on singles by Bryan Sneed and Chase Lambin and a walk to Robert Shelton and could have taken the lead.
That opportunity missed the Tigers slam the door shut with a four-run fifth. It started badly enough for the Cajuns when Robert Shelton booted Sean Barker’s ground ball, then went to worse when Matt Heath launched a two-run home run into the left-center field bleachers for a 3-1 LSU lead.
Cajuns starter Kevin Ardoin retired the next two LSU hitters, but he then gave up singles to David Raymer and Chris Phillips before Holt singled home Raymer and Rocky Scelfo followed by plating Phillips with another base hit.
Clay Harris’ sacrifice fly in the fifth extended LSU’s lead to 5-1, and after the Cajuns got a run in the sixth on Phillip Hawke’s double, the Tigers struck back with two runs in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Barker and Heath’s RBI single.
LSU would score two runs in each of the final three innings to turn the game into a rout, as LSU seniors Raymer and Phillips each collected RBI singles in their final at-bats at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU’s Jake Tompkins, who pitched 6 1/3 innings in the first game on Sunday, was named the regional’s Most Outstanding Player after notching the win on Friday as well.
GAME ONE STORY — LSU 12, UL-Lafayette 2
BATON ROUGE — LSU relief ace Jake Tompkins made the most of a rare start by allowing no earned runs over 6 1/3 innings, and the Fighting Tigers jumped on Louisiana-Lafayette for three runs in the top of the first and never looked back as LSU forced a decisive game in the Baton Rouge regional with an emotionally charged 12-2 rout of the Cajuns Sunday at Alex Box Stadium.
The championship game is slated to start at 5:07 p.m. CDT. LSU is 7-0 when a regional comes down to a single championship contest, having defeated Virginia Commonwealth last year and also claiming titles in this fashion in 1989, 1990, 1993, 1997 and 1999.
LSU (42-20) was shut out on seven hits on Saturday by UL-Lafayette’s Andy Gros and had scored a total of one run in three previous losses to the Ragin Cajuns, but the Tigers quickly changed that as J.C. Holt walked on four pitches to start the game before Aaron Hill touched Cajuns starter Corey Coles for a two-run home run into the left-center field bleachers.
Coles, a Baton Rouge native making his first career start on the mound in post-season play, struck out Wally Pontiff for the first out, but he then fell behind 3-0 when Sean Barker launched a home run over the left field seats.
The Cajuns (39-22) got the leadoff runner on in each of the first two innings, but in both cases, they failed to score as Tompkins induced UL-Lafayette to hit into double plays in both frames to end any scoring opportunities.
The Cajuns finally got on the board in the third when Jason Wilson led off with a single, went to second on Chris Phillips’ passed ball, then scored two batters later on a single by Justin Bourque.
That would be UL-Lafayette’s last realistic scoring threat until the game was far out of reach, as Tompkins and reliever Clay Harris combined to limit the Cajuns to four hits over the final six innings and allowed just two runners to reach second base.
Tompkins improved to 7-1 in his first start since April 30, scattering seven hits and striking out five. Harris came in with one out in the seventh and threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings before being forced to play third base in the ninth inning.
LSU scored single runs in the fifth and sixth, then broke it open with two-run homer in the seventh by Matt Heath, a home run that saw several players from both teams spill onto the field, although umpires were able to keep the teams separated.
When Heath returned to the plate in the ninth, UL-Lafayette hurler Donnie Bair immediately threw at Heath’s head and was ejected for intentionally throwing at a batter by home plate umpire Randy Wetzel. Cajuns coach Tony Robichaux was also ejected and will be able to participate in the championship game.
Hill would become the third person to be ejected in the ninth when he swung and missed and his bat went flying into the Cajuns’ dugout. Under NCAA rules, Hill is suspended for the championship game.
Between the ejections, LSU scored five runs in the ninth, including a two-run double by Blake Gill and a three-run home run by backup catcher Darren Welch, who had just two hits on the season.
NCAA BATON ROUGE REGIONAL
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Catcher: Chris Phillips, LSU
First Base: Rocky Scelfo, LSU
Second Base: J.C. Holt, LSU
Third Base: Anthony Giarratano, Tulane
Shortstop (tie): Fernando Puebla, Southern; Chase Lambin, UL Lafayette
Outfield: Sean Barker, LSU; Bryan Sneed, UL Lafayette; Matt Heath, LSU
Designated Hitter: David Raymer, LSU
Pitchers: Andy Gros, UL Lafayette (unanimous); Jake Tompkins, LSU
Most Outstanding Player: Jake Tompkins, RHP, LSU