GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
No rain. No midnight baseball. No stress.
It even felt like an early evening on “The Sandlot.”
The No. 3 LSU baseball team enjoyed a relaxing Saturday night by 10-run ruling No. 2 Arkansas, 13-3, in seven innings and likely locked up a top eight national seed for NCAA Regional and Super Regional host sites next month. And the Tigers got it all done by 8:30 p.m. in front of 12,264 at Alex Box Stadium.
“I know the fans were really excited when we got the run rule, so they could leave and go to the bar,” LSU right fielder Jake Brown said of the fans and students at his back in the bleachers. “That was pretty much all they were talking about all game, so I’m glad we got to do that for them.”
LSU LATE NIGHT HEROICS BEAT ARKANSAS, 5-4, IN 10 INNINGS
That wasn’t the case Friday as the series opener didn’t start until 9:55 p.m. because of weather delays, and LSU didn’t win it until 1:16 a.m. Saturday, 5-4, in 10 innings.
More importantly, the back-to-back wins by LSU (40-11, 17-9 Southeastern Conference) are very RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) valuable. Arkansas (40-11, 17-9 SEC) came in at No. 4 in the nation in RPI to LSU’s No. 9, which was obviously teetering at the cusp of a top eight seed as RPI rankings tend to dictate the top eight seeds.
LSU FINDS ITSELF IN SUPER REGIOJNAL PLAY-IN VS. ARKANSAS
“It’ll do a lot,” Johnson said. “They were one of two teams in the country with 40 wins – three now. So, any time you you get wins against a team like that, that’s a big (RPI) boom.”
LSU started early Saturday, too, taking a 3-0 lead in the first inning on a three-run home run by Brown off starter Gage Wood, then led by 6-0 after four and 12-0 after five. The Razorbacks came in after sweeping No. 1 Texas but are looking at getting swept now.
The Tigers will go for the sweep at 3 p.m. Sunday on the SEC Network with freshman right-hander Casan Evans (3-0, 1.24 ERA, 49 strikeouts, 36 and a third innings) expected to start.
With a win Sunday and two in the regular season finale series at South Carolina (26-26, 5-22 SEC) Thursday through Saturday, LSU can reach the 20-win SEC plateau and possibly 21 wins before the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, May 20-25.
Suddenly, LSU is no longer slumping on offense as it pounded out 11 hits and got home runs from Cade Arrambide, Ethan Frey and a second one by Brown. Arrambide’s solo homer in the second was his first in SEC play and put LSU up 4-0. Brown’s solo home run in the third made it 5-0 and gave him five on the season. And Frey’s three-run home run in the fifth capped a six-run inning for the 12-0 lead and gave him 10 homers on the season. Arrambide hit his fourth home run.
Meanwhile, LSU starter Anthony Eyanson (8-2, 2.91 ERA) breezed through six innings, striking out 11 and allowing five singles. He ran into trouble only in the third when he gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases, but he struck out the last two to end the inning. He put the Hogs out in order in the first, second and fifth with five strikeouts.
Much like No. 1 starter Kade Anderson (6-1, 3.66 ERA), Eyanson is primed for postseason play as he has consistently improved over the course of the season.
“When I thought about entering the transfer portal and I thought about LSU, this is literally what I thought about – pitching against what some would call the best,” Eyanson, a junior transfer from UC-San Diego said with a laugh. “And this environment is everything that I’ve wanted, and it’s just a great feeling.”
Arkansas scored three in the seventh off LSU reliever Mavrick Rizy to cut the Tigers lead to 12-3.
LSU got the necessary 10-run advantage to end the game in the bottom of the seventh to send everyone home – or to the bars – refreshingly early. Daniel Dickinson singled, reached second on a sacrifice bunt and reached third and scored on the same wild pitch by Hunter Dietz.
Steven Milam struck out on that wild pitch for what would have been the third out, but he reached first base as the ball eluded catcher Ryder Helfrick. Helfrick then threw poorly to third base trying to get Dickinson, who had ventured far off the bag. Then Dickinson beat the throw to the plate for the win.
After winning on a walk-off sacrifice fly in the wee hours Saturday, LSU won on a walk-off strikeout Saturday night.
“No,” Brown said when asked if had seen many games end in such fashion.
“Usually when we win on strikeouts, Casan Evans is in the game. It was like, ‘Oh, oh, oh,” Brown said of the strangely developing play.
“Felt like I was watching Benny ‘The Jet’ (Rodriguez),” Johnson said, referencing the star player in the 1993 classic, “The Sandlot.” As the movie ends, “The Jet” – now all grown up and playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers – steals home.
Just as the regular season is drawing to a close and LSU appears headed home for Regional play, the Tigers are clearly living right.
“It’s been about as good as you could ask for,” Johnson said of the last two nights. “For us, not everybody gets better this time of year, and we are. If we want to accomplish what we want to accomplish, we have to keep getting better.”
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