OMAHA, Neb. ? The second-ranked LSU baseball team continues its run toward its fifth national championship in the bracket finals tonight against Florida State at 6 p.m. The game will be televised live around Louisiana and on a tape-delayed basis to the rest of the nation at 8:30 p.m.
Baton Rouge Area Television Coverage
Baton Rouge and Denham Springs: Cable Channel 18
Plaquemine: Cable Channel 17
Baker, Zachary, Port Allen, Gonzales, Prairieville, St. Gabriel: Cable Channel 13
White Castle: Channel 2
Donaldsonville: Channel 19
Please check back for other listings from around the state as they become available. The audio broadcast will also be steamed live on LSUsports.net with pregame beginning at 5:45 p.m.
According to LSU Baseball Administrative Assistant Bill Franques, Hunter Gomez (9-1, 4.15 ERA) will be the starting pitcher against the Seminoles, with Billy Brian, Shane Youman and Weylin Guidry ready to come out of the bullpen.
Florida State (53-18) advanced to face the Tigers by beating Southern Cal, 3-2, on an RBI single by left fielder Michael Futrell with two outs in the bottom of the ninth before 24,034 at Omaha?s Rosenblatt Stadium Wednesday night.
The fourth-ranked Seminoles lost its first game of the College World Series, 6-4, to Southern Cal before battling back through the loser?s bracket to defeat Texas, 6-2, and then the Trojans on Wednesday.
Sophomore righthander Blair Varnes (11-3, 3.64 ERA) will take the mound for the Seminoles. Varnes was the first of five Florida State hurlers to face USC in the CWS opener this past Saturday. He received the loss after throwing 3 1/3 innings three runs on six hits. He struckout two and walked one.
Leading the Seminoles offensively in the CWS is first baseman Ryan Barthelemy, who has hit three home runs in the series, scored five runs and drove in five. He is batting .500 in 12 CWS at bats. As a team, Florida State is batting .261 (27 of 101) in the series including seven walks and 24 strikeouts.
Meanwhile, LSU (50-17) won its first two CWS games for the sixth time in school history; four of those times the Tigers went on to win the national championship ? in 1998, USC came out of the loser?s bracket to beat LSU twice in the bracket finals and went on the win the title.
LSU has won 11 straight games overall, holds a 27-13 (.675) all-time record in College World Series play and a 84-28 (.750) in NCAA Tournament play. The 11-game streak is the longest since the 1998 Tigers won 13 straight during the regular season.
The Tigers defeated Texas, 13-5, and Southern Cal, 10-4, to advance to the driver?s seat of its bracket. Florida State must beat the Tigers twice to advance to the title game.
LSU has benefited from outstanding pitching performances by Brian Tallet (7.1 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 SO) in game one and by Ben Saxon (3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 SO) and Trey Hodges (6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 SO) in game two.
The Tigers have also used the long ball ? a pair of homers by third baseman Blair Barbier and a towering shot by Mike Fontenot in game one, and a pair of two-out three-run homers by first baseman Brad Hawpe in game two ? to spark an explosive offensive attack.
LSU is batting .342 (25 of 73) in the tournament including 11 walks and 15 strikeouts.
LSU and Florida State have met 15 times with the Seminoles leading the series 9-6. The two teams have met only once in CWS play, a 6-3 FSU victory in the 1994 opening game. In 1994, LSU went two-and-out for the only time in school history.
Head coach Skip Bertman has a 3-4 all-time record at LSU against Florida State. The last time the two teams met in the regular season, LSU beat FSU, 6-2, in the first game of the 1995 Hormel Foods Classic in Minneapolis, Minn.
On the other side of the bracket, Louisiana-Lafayette will face undefeated Stanford in the bracket final at 2 p.m. Thursday. Should the Ragin? Cajuns defeat the Cardinal, the two teams would square off again Friday at 2 p.m.