LSU survives in regional final against Little Rock

The NCAA basketball tournament mantra is “survive and advance.”

The LSU baseball team followed that slogan in the championship game of the Baton Rouge Regional on Monday night at The Box.

Just two innings into the winner-take-all final game, No. 4 seed Little Rock had a four-run lead over the Tigers. One of the most disappointing defeats in its postseason history was staring LSU in the collective faces.

Thanks to the bat of Ethan Frey and the arm of Casan Evans, the Tigers avoided a loss at the hands of the Trojans. Frey delivered two key hits to spark the rally offensively. Evans tossed six effective innings in relief to change the momentum in what became a 10-6 LSU victory.

Trailing 5-1, the Tigers squandered a scoring opportunity in the top of the third when Jake Brown flied out with the bases loaded to end the threat. One inning later, Frey finally provided LSU with a clutch hit.

Frey cleared the bases with a two-out, three-run double which cut the Tigers’ deficit to one run. That hit released much of the pressure enveloping the LSU players, coaches and fans. It seemed to be just a matter of time before the Tigers would go on top.

LSU tied the score 5-5 in the sixth on Luis Hernandez’ home run. Frey took care of getting the Tigers the lead one inning later. Frey doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Steven Milam’s infield out. In the eighth, a second Hernandez made it a two-run game.

When Little Rock reduced its deficit to one in the bottom of the eighth, Jared Jones broke out of his postseason funk with a two-run homer. Hernandez tacked on another run with a RBI single.

While Frey’s three-run double turned the tide in LSU’s favor. Evans’ mound work was equally as important. Zac Cowan, who made his first start of the season, did not finish the second when Little Rock scored five times.

Cowan walked two batters, hit one and gave up a pair of singles. An error by second baseman Daniel Dickinson prolonged the inning. Evans replaced Cowan with one out and allowed a RBI hit before getting the last two outs.

Evans dominated the Trojans hitters for the next four innings. He retired 12 of 13 batters – including a stretch of nine in a row with eight straight strikeouts. Evans ran into trouble in the seventh when he walked three hitters. He ended the threat with yet another strikeout.

Now, it was not an easy last two frames for the Tigers. The first two Little Rock hitters in the eighth reached on singles. After forcing the lead runner at third on an attempted sacrifice bunt, Evans was relieved by starter Anthony Eyanson.

Eyanson gave up a RBI single to cut LSU’s lead to one run at 7-6. Eyanson stranded the tying run at second with a strikeout and a ground out. The Trojans did go down in order in the ninth against Eyanson.

So, it’s on to the super regionals for the Tigers – just their second since 2019 at The Box. Big XII champion West Virginia, which won three straight games at the Clemson Regional, will be LSU’s opponent. The best-of-three series will begin either Friday or Saturday.
 

LSU STARTERS

Derek Curiel: 0-for-4, 1 run scored

Ethan Frey: 4-for-4, 4 RBIs, 2 runs scored, 1 HR

Steven Milam: 0-for-5, 1 RBI

Daniel Dickinson: 0-for-4

Jake Brown: 2-for-4, 1 run scored

Jared Jones: 2-for-5, 2 RBIs, 1 run scored, 1 HR

Chris Stanfield: 0-for-5, 2 runs scored

Luis Hernandez: 3-for-5, 3 RBIs, 2 runs scored, 2 HRs

Michael Braswell: 0-for-1

 

LSU BENCH

Ashton Larson: 0-for-0, 1 run scored

 

 

LSU PITCHERS

Zac Cowan: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 5 R 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Casan Evans: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 12 K

Anthony Eyanson: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 3 K

LSU Baseball Cutter & Buck Virtue Eco Micro Stripe Polo
from: Alumni Hall