BATON ROUGE — Back-to-back home runs by Clay Harris and Ivan Naccarata to lead off the top of the eighth inning lifted LSU over Baylor, 6-5, in the tense second game of an NCAA super regional series on Saturday at Alex Box Stadium.
Baylor (45-22) and LSU (44-20-1) will play Sunday at 1:35 p.m. in a winner-take-all game to advance to the College World Series. The winner will face the winner of the Arizona St.-Cal St. Fullerton super regional on Friday in Omaha.
The Bears are attempting to become the first team to win any round of an NCAA Tournament in Baton Rouge against LSU, while the Tigers are seeking their 12th trip to Omaha since 1986, but first since their 2000 national championship.
The win for the Tigers was their first in a super regional since a 4-3, 13-inning triumph over Tulane on June 1, 2001, and improved LSU to 58-11 all-time in home games in the NCAA tournament.
Trailing for the first time in the game at 5-4, Harris, a first team All-SEC selection, took an Abe Woody offering off the scoreboard in right-center field to tie the game. Baylor coach Steve Smith went to the bullpen and called on Ryan LaMotta, who earned the save in Friday’s game.
The move backfired, as Naccarata, the Tigers’ leading hitter in the post-season, hit a towering blast well past the right-center field fence to allow LSU to regain the lead.
Baylor, which cut an early 4-0 deficit to 4-3, started its half of the seventh with back-to-back singles by Zach Dillon and Trey Webb off of LSU starter Bo Pettit, but Tiger reliever Jason Determann came in to retire Kevin Reynolds and Kevin Sevingy in order to bring up leadoff hitter Chris Durbin with two out.
Durbin laced a single in front of LSU center fielder J.C. Holt to bring home Dillon with the tying run, and one batter later, David Murphy, Baylor’s leading hitter, dropped a single just inside the left field line to give the Bears a 5-4 lead.
Determann, who picked up the win in relief in the Tigers’ regional championship game win over UNC Wilmington, had a scary moment in the ninth when Durbin launched a fly ball to deep center field, but Holt hauled it in just in front of the wall. Determann then snared Murphy’s line drive to end the game and improve to 7-0.
LSU, which came into this game having scored just two runs in its previous 38 2/3 innings in super regional play dating back to 2001, wasted lititle time in grabbing a 3-0 lead before Baylor could get to the plate.
Bruce Sprowl led off with a routine ground ball to first baseman Mark Saccomanno, but Sprowl was safe when pitcher Shawn Walker dropped Saccomanno’s throw covering the bag.
Holt, who struck out four times in Friday’s 4-1 loss, grounded a single back up the middle, and then SEC Player of the Year Aaron Hill launched a two-run home run to right field to make it 3-0.
A leadoff double by Ryan Patterson and a wild pitch by Walker led to a 4-0 LSU lead in the second on a ground ball to second base by Jon Zeringue.
Baylor then began to chip into the LSU lead, collecting its first run on an RBI single in the bottom fo the second by Trey Webb, and then taking advantage of a Blake Gill error to score another run in the third on Murphy’s RBI double that scored Durbin.
The Bears pulled to within 4-3 in the fourth when Saccomanno scored on a wild pitch by Pettit after he led off the inning with a triple.
Baylor’s Walker gave up four runs (three earned) on seven hits in six-plus innings, while LSU’s Pettit, making his final start at home of his career, gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits in six-plus.
LSU 310 000 020– 6 9 1
Baylor 011 100 200– 5 10 2
Bo Pettit, Jason Determann (7) and Matt Liuzza; Sean Walker, Abe Woody (7), Ryan LaMotta (8) and Josh Ford.
WP–Determann, 7-0.
LP–LaMotta, 7-3.
2B–LSU: Ryan Patterson (19); Baylor: David Murphy (18), Mark Saccomanno (16).
3B–Baylor: Saccomanno (3).
HR–LSU: Aaron Hill (9), Clay Harris (14), Ivan Naccarata (6)
T—3:02.
A–7,655 (paid); 7,161 (actual).
2003 NCAA SUPER REGIONAL TOURNAMENT
LSU VS. BAYLOR
ALEX BOX STADIUM
BATON ROUGE, La.
June 7, 2003
LSU Quotes
Head Coach Smoke Laval
“We jumped on them in the first inning and I though they may go away, but not in regional. We got one in the second and the funny thing is that nobody knows that Bo (Pettit) was coming out in the third. He had a blister that nobody here could pitch with and he just muscled his way through it until we could get to (Jason) Determann. Jason Determann comes in and does it again to set it up for all the marbles.
On not scoring in the sixth or seventh innings when there were numerous chances “We definitely had our chance. We’re playing not to lose instead of playing to win. (Jon) Zeringue did a nice job with the guy at third and the infield playing back, which we didn’t do twice on Friday night and that’s the type of club that we have. We try to do the little things.”
“All that’s saying is that we were trying too hard, and they’re trying. You can see. It’s just not working for us. We were fortunate. Maybe this win will loosen us up.
First Baseman Clay Harris
“Well when I got up there I just wanted to start something off because I was leading off the inning. We were down by a one and I knew a base runner was important. I just wanted to get a good pitch to drive and I got one up in the air.
Third Baseman Ivan Naccarata
“It was a pitch that was up and in and during the whole game I was putting my foot down and hitting balls. Coach told me to work on that all game and it paid off at the end.
Starting Pitcher Bo Pettit
“Well we tried to manage it a little bit in between innings. It kind of ripped off the skin a little bit in that second inning. I just wanted to tough it out. I didn’t want to go out in the second inning on my last stand in Alex Box Stadium. I just wanted to go out there and compete and try to keep the game as close as possible. I knew Determan was ready from the second inning on but I wanted to go as far as I could. I gave the ball to Determan and he did his job. I think it was a great team effort today. Guys got the big hits that we were looking for last night. We got a rubber game tomorrow and it going to be a good match.
On the blister on his finger
“It started off earlier in the season as a callous, which is what a pitcher wants it to be, but then it started to develop into a little blood blister. Shawn (Eddy) the trainer would pop it every now and then, but sooner or later that thing is going to get worse and it has. I’ve got the skin ripped off of it now.”
“Hopefully, if we win tomorrow, it will get better by next weekend. It’s been an ongoing occurrence. It happened last year in the Super Regional, but it’s something that we can take care of if I have to go next week.”
Relief Pitcher Jason Determann
“Like Bo (Pettit) said I just tried to go out there and pitch my game and not just try and overpower guys. Not try to throw it by them or anything and just throw at the black. For the most part of the game, I was able to do that I think. They got a few balls up and they definitely hit a few balls hard off of me. You noticed that last one, it actually came back in the glove. On the one before that, I think it was a blessing that Wally (the wind) was blowing in. It was a big team effort today and everybody came around.”
On the last out and whether he even saw the ball or not
“I think I saw it, but I’m not sure. They got one of them by me and I wasn’t going to let another one.”
BAYLOR HEAD COACH STEVE SMITH
“Well it was just an extremely competitive, well-played game and I do not know what more you can ask for in this kind of environment and with what is on the line to get a game that well-played from both sides. Both teams had opportunities that they let get away from time to time in the game, both teams made some plays and both teams kicked a couple. I think the game was about as close as the score indicated. They managed to hit their ball to the right field and we hit ours to center. I asked Coach Bertman if he would mind leaving the magic wand at home tomorrow, or at least not change the wind on us. It was just a good baseball game”
RELIEF PITCHER RYAN LaMOTTA
On giving up the go-ahead home run to Ivan Naccarata in the eighth inning…
“I got behind, I think it was 2-1. I tried to go fastball in and I pretty much left it over the plate and he hit it well. I just gave him a good pitch to hit and he hit it.”
RIGHT FIELDER DAVID MURPHY
“I guess baseball is a funny game. I have not hit the ball as well as I could have this weekend. One of the things I pride myself on is making contact and doing the best I can with two strikes. I guess that was my approach today because I had two strikes a lot and I guess my approach was to put the ball in play and a couple of balls fell for me.”
CENTER FIELDER CHRIS DURBIN
On his hit that drove in two runs in the seventh inning with two outs…
“We had two out and runners on first and second and the pitcher (Jason Determann) was throwing me a lot of back-door breaking balls and got me down in the count early at 0-2. I was just trying to put the ball in play and luckily he hung an 0-2 curveball right over the plate and i got it in to play into centerfield and luckily it fell.”