GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
It took much of the last two nights, but LSU finally found a third pitcher and enough runs.
Freshman right-hander Casan Evans came to the rescue in the second inning and reduced pesky Arkansas-Little Rock to rubble for five scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts, including nine in a row from the fourth and into the seventh. And the No. 6 national seed Tigers advanced to the Super Regional with a 10-6 victory in front of 11,656 at Alex Box Stadium on Monday night.
Arkansas-Little Rock’s Cinderella flight finally succumbed as it finished 27-34.
LSU (46-15) will now host West Virginia (44-14) in a best-of-three series for a ticket to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. That Super Regional will begin at The Box on Friday or Saturday.
“The dude is a superstar,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said of Evans. “And you guys have been around a lot longer than I have, but there haven’t been very many better performances on that pitching mound in championship games that what you saw from Casan.”
Evans, who had not pitched since May 16, entered the game for struggling starter Zac Cowan in the bottom of the second inning with runners on the corners, one out and trailing 3-1. He gave up an RBI fielder’s choice grounder to Zach Henry and an RBI single to Ryan Geck for a 5-1 deficit. But neither run was charged to him, and he was off and dealing.
LSU AVOIDED WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE MOST INFAMOUS NCAA POSTSESON LOSS
Evans got Ty Rhoades to ground into a force out and struck out Cade Martin to get out of the inning and shut the Rock down through the seventh inning. He started the eighth inning and gave up back-to-back singles to Angel Cano and Sammy Harris. But he fielded Reed Wilbanks’ grounder and threw perfectly to third for the first out of the inning.
At 109 pitches with 71 strikes, Evans then left to a tremendous ovation.
“Yeah, I mean hands down, one of the best performances I’ve had of this year and of my career,” Evans said. “So, I couldn’t be more thankful for coach Johnson trusting me in the situation when were down a couple of runs. He threw me in with runners on. I was just going to go right at them.”
Then regular starting pitcher Anthony Eyanson came on, but it was not over. Alex Seguine singled in a run off Eyanson to cut LSU’s lead to 7-6. Eyanson recovered to strike out Henry looking on a full count for the second out. Then LSU third baseman Tanner Reaves fielded Geck’s grounder and threw him out by an eyelash at first base to end the inning. UALR called for a replay, but the call was confirmed. Had it been reversed, the runner would have scored for a 7-7 tie.
Jared Jones hit his 20th home run of the season in the top of the ninth with a man on to give Johnson room to exhale hugely with a 9-6 lead.
“That’s probably the most excited I’ve been at least in this season,” Johnson said.
And Luis Hernandez’ RBI single made it 10-6. Eyanson retired the side in order in the ninth for his second save, and it was over.
After Ethan Frey gave LSU a 1-0 lead with a home run in the top of the first inning, the Tigers found themselves behind again as they were Sunday night in a 10-4 loss to Arkansas-Little Rock that forced the deciding game.
Cano, who had a two-run home run in the Trojans’ win over LSU on Sunday, struck again with an RBI single to tie it 1-1 in the second. Seguine’s two-run single put UALR up 3-1, and Evans replaced Cowan, who allowed five runs with four earned on three hits and two walks in his first start this season.
Quiet terror had started to build in the aisles of Alex Box as the Tigers left the bases loaded in the third and stayed down 5-1 when Jake Brown flew out to end the inning.
Finally, LSU broke through the pressure barrier for the first time in the fourth on a three-run double by Frey to get the Tigers within 5-4. LSU then tied it 5-5 in the sixth on Hernandez’ eighth home run of the season, and it looked like Johnson finally exhaled.
The Tigers took the lead back in the seventh for good at 6-5 when Frey doubled and scored on Steven Milam’s ground out. And Johnson appeared to be breathing normally in the eighth when Hernandez homered again for a 7-5 lead.
“I told the players tonight is one of the best wins of my entire career,” said Johnson, who won the 2023 national title at LSU and took Arizona to the World Series twice. “Because of what they had to do to earn it.”
Be the first to comment