Scooter Hobbs column: Tigers add to list of walk-offs
OMAHA, Neb. — Don't blame yourselves, Razorbacks. It happens to the best of them.
It's not you. It's LSU. Arkansas just happened to get caught up in another of those wild and crazy vortexes the Tigers sometimes create in what they've come to call Geauxmaha.
Don't dissect it too closely. When LSU gets the College World Series karma going, it makes a habit of dangling the irrational out there, toying with the unexplainable. It happened again Wednesday night, of course, a rally with three nutty runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 6-5 walk-off victory over the Hogs.
Two hits that inexplicably found grass — one off a stumbling Razorbacks' shoulder for a tying double, another off the tip top of a leaping second baseman's glove — oh, so close — for the walk-off single.
The Hogs probably deserve better. Even LSU head Jay Johnson expressed empathy in the midst of LSU's wild celebration, which seemed to be an embarrassed shrug of the shoulders as if to say, 'Don't ask us how we do it.'
The Razorbacks are as cursed in Omaha as LSU is often blessed, and will remain college baseball's absolute best program without a national championship.
They'll put this one alongside the dropped pop foul when they were one out from the 2018 national championship.
LSU won't apologize for it. The Tigers can't even explain it. They'll just play for their eighth national championship beginning Saturday.
'Character,' Johnson offered.
Nice try, coach, although his team does seem classy enough, a likeable bunch to boot.
Arkansas seemed to be of similar composition — often answering to the tag 'most complete team in the nation.'
So, no, this was something more. Wednesday was the LSU program's sixth all-time walkoff in the CWS.
Some of them had similar drama, but none were quite as bizarre as this one.
'I'm at a loss for words,' Johnson said.
I'll give it a shot. When LSU gets in this mode, some divine, horsehide intervention seems to be at work.
The Razorbacks just happened to be in the way.
There were unconfirmed reports of Rod Serling standing serious off in the shadows of Charles Schwab Field. As the bottom of the ninth unfolded, you could almost hear that creepy 'Twilight Zone' music wafting about.
Whether they knew it or not, the Razorbacks, unsuspecting or not, were in trouble.
Sure, LSU put the bat on the ball for the clutch hits, but it needed help from the Hogs.
No problem.
Arkansas may even accuse the Tigers of bringing up some of that alleged Louisiana voodoo north for their latest. Was that Marie Laveau in the LSU dugout?
Something turned a tight, well-played game into two final innings of total chaos, which, of course was right in LSU's wheelhouse. Something maybe we will never fully understand and maybe shouldn't try.
It's Omaha, after all. If blessing the Tigers isn't enough, maybe voodoo casts a spell on the victims.
For all the LSU clutch hits and pitching, this one is likely to be remembered more for Arkansas left fielder Charles Davalan tripping or slipping — something ill-timed, at any rate — to turn what could have been a game-ending out into a game-tying double.
And could second baseman Cam Kozeal have been any closer to snagging Jared Jones' winning single that bounced off the top of his glove? He could probably feel the ball's seams through his glove — and then it was bouncing into center field.
Neither was an error. Just unfortunate. Bad luck.
Whatever forces were at work, it all lined up for LSU, which would have had to play the Razorbacks again Thursday with a loss.
'It's a huge deal not to have to play (Thursday),' Johnson said after the game. 'There is nobody happier in the city of Omaha that there will not be a game here (Thursday) than Jay Johnson right now.'
It does set up perfectly for the Tigers, as if they need such niceties.
An extra game would have meant bringing back one of their co-aces, Kade Anderson or Anthony Eyanson, burning whichever one for the championship series.
Now the Tigers can go into the championship round against upstart Coastal Carolina with their regular weekend rotation intact, starting with the best 1-2 punch in college baseball.
You can't ask for much more. But just a warning to the Chanticleers. If things go awry for the Tigers this weekend, beware. They apparently have Rod Serling on speed dial.
—
Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com
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