How LSU Baseball ended up in a "win or go home" matchup

How did LSU Baseball end up playing on Monday night for a final chance to keep the season alive in a “win or go home” game vs. Little Rock?

Little Rock’s cinderella run began in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, where the winner’s of 19 of 51 games entering the week went on to win five straight games and capture the OVC Tournament title – and punch an unexpected ticket to the postseason.

With five straight wins in the conference tournament, Little Rock landed in the NCAA’s Baton Rouge Regional, and the first matchup came against the No. 6 national seed in LSU Baseball.

LSU, fresh off a win and a loss at the SEC Tournament, entered the regional with a 43-14 record on the season.

Matched up against a team in Little Rock that had won just six more regular season games than LSU Baseball had lost regular season games this season, the Tigers came out with a bang in Game 1, advancing to Saturday’s winner’s bracket with a 7-0 shutout victory.

LSU handled Dallas Baptist, the victors over Rhode Island on the other side of the four-team bracket, with another shutout, this time winning 12-0. In two games, LSU’s two aces on the mound in Anthony Eyanson and Kade Anderson looked the part, the bats were coming through and the Tigers had won two postseason games by a combined score of 19-0.

Then came the unexpected.

Not only did Little Rock win games against both Rhode Island and Dallas Baptist to climb out of the loser’s bracket, but the cinderella story brought with it a seemingly improbable dominant win over LSU in Sunday’s championship game.

With a 10-4 win, Little Rock had forced LSU into a winner-take-all game on Monday evening at 8 p.m. CT for a chance to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals.

Little Rock improved to 27-33 on the season with Sunday night’s win, while LSU dropped to 45-15. The Trojans earlier on Sunday won an elimination game over Dallas Baptist, 8-6.

“Great job by Little Rock,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “Winning two games against two great teams, and you’ve got to tip your hat to them. They took a lot of good at-bats throughout the day. I watched their entire first game as it was transpiring and it was complete performance by them.

The teams will meet again at 8 p.m. CT Monday in the regional championship game, with the winner advancing to face West Virginia in an NCAA Super Regional beginning either Friday or Saturday.

Monday’s game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network at LSUsports.net/live and televised on ESPN2.

“I think our game tonight kind of speaks for itself where it got away from us and we’ll leave it (there in Sunday’s loss to Little Rock), turn all our focus to (Monday) and find a way to play great,” Johnson said.

“Our players have done a good job this year of bouncing back after a tough game, both individually and collectively … and it gives me great confidence about what they can do (Monday).”

Here’s a look back at the trio of games – a pair of wins on Friday and Saturday before a loss on Sunday – that put the Tigers into the final game of the NCAA’s Baton Rouge Regional.

LSU handles business after weather delay in Game 1 vs. Little Rock

Junior right-hander Anthony Eyanson fired 7.2 scoreless innings Friday night, and second baseman Daniel Dickinson blasted two home runs as top-ranked LSU posted a 7-0 shutout victory over Little Rock in Game 1 of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

“Good win for our team tonight,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “I’m proud of the players.  It was a long day obviously working through the delay and all that, but we were ready to go.  It was great to be back at home after a couple of weeks.”

LSU, which improved to 44-14 this season, will face No. 2-seeded Dallas Baptist at 8 p.m. CT Saturday.

Little Rock, which dropped to 24-33, will meet No. 3-seeded Rhode Island at 2 p.m. CT Saturday.

Dickinson’s two homers and three RBI came in his first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.

“He’s competitive,” said Johnson. “And I can relate, when you’re as competitive as you are, sometimes your best quality can become your worst enemy as a hitter.  I wanted to get him reset for that third at-bat (when he hit a two-run homer), and he did.”

Eyanson (10-2) earned the win after working 7.2 scoreless innings and recording seven strikeouts, while Little Rock’s Jackson Wells (3-7) was charged with the loss.

“I just wanted to execute,” said Eyanson when asked about what he wanted to accomplish in Friday’s outing. “ I’m going to say that probably every interview. Honestly, I just wanted to execute, slow down in the moment.  I’m super grateful for being on the mound.  I just wanted to attack and compete, mentally be aggressive, and go after the other team.”

Leftfielder Derek Curiel and rightfielder Jake Brown both recorded two-hit games for LSU, with each player driving in a run.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning when Brown singled to right to score Curiel after he had led the game off with a single of his own.

LSU doubled their advantage in the second inning when first baseman Jared Jones delivered an RBI single to score centerfielder Chris Stanfield, who had earlier reached on a single.

Dickinson launched a solo home run in the fifth inning to increase the margin. The Tigers added to the lead in the sixth via Curiel’s RBI double and Dickinson’s second homer of the game – a two-run shot – making it 6-0.

“You can’t win the game and have the game over in the first inning,” Johnson said. “You can’t try to force it.  You’ve got to let the game come to you a little bit.  I thought we did that tonight.  And when you have really good pitching and really good defense, it should allow your offense to play with great confidence.  I thought we played well tonight.  It was a good night for the Tigers on offense.”

The finishing touch was applied in the seventh when third baseman Michael Braswell III doubled and scored shortstop Steven Milam from second base. Relievers DJ Primeaux and Mavrick Rizy combined to finish the final 1.1 innings for the Tigers and preserve the shutout.

LSU shuts out Dallas Baptist to move to Championship Round

LSU sophomore left-hander Kade Anderson fired 7.0 scoreless innings Saturday night, and centerfielder Chris Stanfield drove in three runs as top-ranked LSU posted a 12-0 win over Dallas Baptist in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

LSU (45-14) advances to the regional championship round at 8 p.m. CT Sunday, when the Tigers will face Little Rock (26-33). Little Rock defeated DBU, 8-6, in an elimination game Sunday afternoon.

Sunday night’s LSU-Little Rock game will be televised on ESPNU and broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network.

“It was a good night for our team,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson after Saturday’s win. “I thought we played outstanding baseball tonight. Obviously it starts and ends on the mound. And Kade, as Kade has been all year, was the best pitcher on the planet tonight. And executed at a high level. Defense continued to support him, another game of zero in the error column.”

LSU, which defeated Little Rock, 7-0, on Friday to open the regional, has recorded back-to-back shutouts in NCAA Tournament games for just the second time in its history.

The first time occurred on May 31 and June 1, 2015, when the Tigers logged back-to-back 2-0 shutouts over UNC Wilmington in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.

Anderson (9-1) limited DBU Saturday night to just four hits in 7.0 scoreless frames with two walks and 11 strikeouts. He has 156 strikeouts this season and is now tied for sixth place on LSU’s single-season strikeouts list with right-hander Russ Springer (1988) and left-hander Eddie Yarnall (1996).

Stanfield was 3-for-4 at the plate with his first home of the season and three RBI, pacing LSU’s 10-hit output.

DBU starting pitcher Micah Bucknam (6-2) was charged with the loss, as he surrendered six runs – three earned – on four hits in 2.2 innings with two walks and two strikeouts.

The Tigers grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when designated hitter Ethan Frey lined a two-run single, and Stanfield’s solo shot in the second extended the margin to 3-0.

“Offensively I thought we did a lot of things well,” Johnson said. “Starting in the first inning, two outs, nobody on, Danny (Dickinson) walks, Jake (Brown) gets hit with a pitch, and then Ethan, two-strike hard and low hits the ball the other way, very professional hitter-like to get us going. Later, a really good at-bat by Chris; good at-bats all night by Chris.”

“This whole week I’ve been working hard on getting back to using the whole field and really just staying with that mindset,” Stanfield said. “So today they were working me away. And Coach Johnson told me before the AB, look away.

“I was really just trusting it, letting the ball get deep. And I was able to put a good swing on it. Thankful it was able to fly out of here.”

LSU struck for three runs in the third when catcher Luis Hernandez sacrificed a run in from third base, and Stanfield and leftfielder Derek Curiel delivered RBI singles.

The Tigers added a run in the fifth on Stanfield’s RBI groundout, and they extended the lead to 9-0 in the sixth on Hernandez’s RBI single and a steal of home by shortstop Steven Milam.

Frey scored a run in the eighth when he tripled and then raced home when centerfielder DBU Nathan Humphreys bobbled the ball in the outfield. The Tigers produced two more runs in the inning on pinch hitter Ashton Larson’s sacrifice fly and a wild pitch that scored pinch hitter Cade Arrambide from third base.

Little Rock stuns Tigers to force a final game at The Box

First baseman Angel Cano drove in five runs Sunday night to lead Little Rock to a 10-4 win over LSU in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

The teams will meet again at 8 p.m. CT Monday in the regional championship game, with the winner advancing to face West Virginia in an NCAA Super Regional beginning either Friday or Saturday. A limited number of tickets are available starting at 9 a.m. CT, along with the SeatGeek official marketplace.

Monday’s game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network at LSUsports.net/live and televised on ESPN2.

Little Rock improved to 27-33 on the season with Sunday night’s win, while LSU dropped to 45-15. The Trojans earlier on Sunday won an elimination game over Dallas Baptist, 8-6.

“Great job by Little Rock today,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “Winning two games against two great teams, and you’ve got to tip your hat to them. They took a lot of good at-bats throughout the day. I watched their entire first game as it was transpiring and it was complete performance by them.

“I think our game tonight kind of speaks for itself where it got away from us and we’ll leave it here tonight, turn all our focus to tomorrow and find a way to play great.”

Cano was 2-for-5 at the plate with a two-run homer and a three-run double, as Little Rock erased an early 3-0 LSU lead with six combined runs in the second and third innings.

Brenden Katz (1-0), the second of four Little Rock pitchers, was credited with the win, as he worked 1.2 scoreless innings while allowing two hits with two walks and one strikeout.

Reliever Malcolm Brown earned his first save of the season for the Trojans, limiting LSU to one run on three hits in 5.1 innings with one walk and three strikeouts.

LSU reliever Chase Shores (5-3) was charged with the loss, as he allowed four runs on one hit in 1.0 inning with three walks and two strikeouts.

LSU freshman left-hander Cooper Williams delivered an effective bullpen performance for the Tigers, firing 3.2 scoreless innings with three hits, one walk and four strikeouts.

“Our players have done a good job this year of bouncing back after a tough game, both individually and collectively,” Johnson said, “and it gives me great confidence about what they can do tomorrow.”