LSU Baseball

No timely hits for LSU

By Bryan Lazare

June 1, 2024

2,296

The results at the Tucson Regional were breaking nicely for LSU.

The top two seeds in that regional tourney found themselves in the losers’ bracket after first-round games. So, the Tigers had an opportunity to host a super-regional series if they could win the Chapel Hill Regional.

Well, LSU will have to take a difficult path to a regional tournament championship.

Tigers batters failed to deliver in the clutch which resulted in a 6-2 defeat at the hands of No. 1 seed North Carolina on Saturday evening.

LSU must now put together a three-game winning streak over two days to advance to next weekend’s super regionals. The Tigers will face Wofford in an elimination game Sunday afternoon.

A victory over the Terries would send LSU into the championship round against the Tar Heels. The Tigers would need to beat UNC twice – Sunday night and again Monday.

LSU had the starting pitching advantage in the matchup with the Tar Heels – potential first-round draft pick Luke Holman against Shea Sprague. The Tigers certainly had their chances against Sprague during the first half of the game. But, there was a lack of clutch hits.

In the first inning, singles by Tommy White and Josh Pearson set up Hayden Travinski in a RBI situation. Travinski hit into an inning-ending force play.

One inning later, LSU again put two runners on base when Ashton Larson was hit by a pitch and Alex Milazzo singled. Jake Brown beat out a double-play ball at first base to keep the inning alive. But, the umpires ruled Brown out due to an illegal slide at second by Milazzo.

In the fifth, Sprague walked Milazzo and allowed a single by Michael Braswell with one out. North Carolina coach Scott Forbes went to reliever Ben Peterson. Swinging at a breaking ball on the first pitch, White grounded into an inning-ending double play.

When the Tigers came to the plate in the sixth, they were now trailing 3-0 due to a Vance Honeycutt home run. But, LSU got the tying run to the plate after Jared Jones was hit by a pitch and Steven Milam walked. The Tigers stranded two runners when Larson flied out.

LSU had its chance to take the lead in the seventh. Singles by Milazzo, Braswell and White loaded the bases with one out. Peterson forced in one run by walking Jones. UNC closer Dalton Pence forced in a second run by walking pinch-hitter Ethan Frey.

However, Pence then shut the door on the Tigers when he got Travinski to hit into an inning-ending double play. Pence set LSU down in order in the eighth and ninth after the Tar Heels expanded their lead.

Two games into the Chapel Hill Regional, the Tigers have scored but six runs – coming on four solo homers and two bases-loaded walks. Obviously, LSU has not strung together multiple hits.

Holman pitched well enough for the Tigers to record a victory. He had one tough three-batter stretch in the fifth. A bunt single and a line-drive double off the glove of Jones at first base preceded the first of two Honeycutt homers.

North Carolina, or rather Honeycutt, responded to the new situation with the score at 3-2. Honeycutt hit another home run off Holman in the seventh. Then, the Tar Heels tacked on two runs against Sam Dutton and Will Hellmers in the eighth.

Since the 16 four-team regional format was adopted 25 years ago, LSU has lost the winners’ bracket finals game five times – the most recent being at Oregon State in 2018. The Tigers got to the championship round where they again lost to the Beavers.

LSU has bounced back from a loss in the winners’ bracket finals game to capture the regional two times. Both of those tournament comebacks came at the Old Box – 1999 and 2002.

The Tigers failed to come back from a loss in the winners’ bracket finals in 2005 at the Old Box and 2010 at UCLA. In the regional at UCLA, LSU lost its next game to Cal Irvine – not even reaching the championship round.

Just three years ago, the Tigers were in a worse situation in the Eugene (Ore.) Regional after losing their tournament opener to Gonzaga. LSU won four games, including two over Oregon, in three days to win the tournament. Timely hitting must surface for such a run.