LSU Hits Big Win in Game 1 of Super Regional

In Baton Rouge, the Super Regional was underway on Saturday afternoon in the blistering heat with a packed Alex Box. Just two games away from punching a ticket to Omaha, and the Tigers were hitting big with a final score of 16 - 9

The beginning of the game seemed daunting for the Tigers, with no runs through the first four innings, and the aggressive nature of the Mountaineers' hits was not producing as usual. On the bump, Kade Anderson seemed to be unsettled, and his pitch count was reflecting that.

Through the first inning, he had already reached a 20-pitch count, which to some seems worrisome, but to the Tigers, it was just the beginning. After another two innings, and only one allowed run, Anderson was back in the zone and hanging zeros across the board, but not without some questionable calls from the home plate umpire.

On the offense, the Tigers, through the first three innings, were still not on the board, trying to play catch-up to the Mountaineers, who struck for blood early in the second inning. Freshman phenom Derek Curiel steps up to the plate, with two men on base, this was the chance to put LSU in the winning conversation.

With one out, and a 1-1 count, Curiel took one crack of the bat and it flew 351 ft to left field, putting LSU with a 3-1 lead and back in the conversation of winning this Game 1.

But with a two-run deficit, there was still a chance of the Mountaineers bouncing back, that was quickly put to rest in the fifth inning where LSU hung up seven runs.

With bases loaded and no outs, shortstop Stevan Milam steps up and cracks the ball to right field, sending it out of the park and breaking open the score with a 7-1 lead. That grand slam for Milam made it the first of his career and the 11th homer of the season.

This marked the beginning of a score that was wide open.

Through the fifth inning, the Mountaineers had to take four pitching changes, all with no outs, and LSU had no problem taking advantage of the chance to run in circles around the Mountaineers.

This game, once becoming a struggle for the Tigers, saw such a flip in the script that there was a newfound energy in the packed Alex Box crowd, even with a heat index of 103 and almost no clouds in the sky.

The once very aggressive Mountaineers were beginning to fall off and having trouble continuing the streak that was going strong was no longer seen, until the top of the sixth when West Virginia was able to nickel and dime four runs to cut the deficit in half with a 10-5 score.

Though the Mountaineers struck with four runs, the Tigers immediately responded with two walks and a Josh Pearson grand slam in the bottom of the sixth with a full-blown out score of 16-5.

The hunt for blood was entirely on to clutch a win, and LSU was heating up as West Virginia was now cooling off and trying to play catch-up.

After seven innings from ace pitcher Kade Anderson, freshman William Schmidt took over on the mound in the top of the eighth inning and racked up a zero on the board after two scoring innings. Then taken over by Mavrik Rizy to finish up the game.

The offense for the Tigers was alive and well with only eight hits and a final score of 16 there were big hits that were right where they needed to be. Pitching was spotty but the three pitchers were able to settle in exactly when needed in the middle innings.

Sealing the deal for the Tigers that are now one win away from going back to the Mecca of college baseball Omaha. LSU will take to the field again tomorrow at 5 p.m. C.T for what hopes to be the final game of this series.