LSU headed to CWS finals after crazy walk-off rally beats Hogs
Luis Hernandez motions to teammates after his 2-run double tied the gaeme and set the stage for LSU's walk-off victory. Special to the American Press / Mitchell Scaglione
OMAHA, Neb. — LSU's Geauxmaha Magic is alive and well in the College World Series.
But this latest was as unlikely as any of the Tigers' past antics here — maybe even a touch of some of that Louisiana voodoo come north for June again.
The Tigers scored three in the bottom of the ninth, using a freakish 2-run double by Luis Hernandez, followed by a game-winning RBI single by Jared Jones that tipped just off the top of a leaping second baseman's glove for a walk-off 6-5 victory over Arkansas.
So the Tigers (51-15) are geauxing to the three-game CWS championship round, beginning Saturday when they'll face Coastal Carolina, which punched its ticket with a far-more routine 11-3 win over Louisville earlier Wednesday.
It's the second straight Omaha trip where LSU has walked-off into the finals. Two years ago it was Tommy White's 11th-inning home run to beat Wake Forest that sent the Tigers to the finals, where they beat Florida two of three for their seventh national championship.
Pretty cut and dry on that one, actually.
This time all three ninth-inning runs scored with two outs — in fact, five of the Tigers' six runs came with two outs, as have 10 of the 15 over the last two games.
The third out looked to be there for Arkansas' taking when Hernandez hit a sharp and twisting liner to leftfield, but just before it arrived Charles Davalan slipped, with the ball bouncing off his shoulder into the corner.
'He didn't grab it, I started running,' Hernandez said.
So did Steven Milam and Ethan Frey to easily circle the bases from second and first to tie the game at 5-5.
That brought up Jared Jones, whose eighth-inning game-tying homer looked for naught when the Razorbacks scored two runs in the top of the ninth.
He lined one the opposite way that Arkansas second baseman Cam Kozeal leaped as high as he could for, but it tipped off the very tip top of his glove and dribbled into centerfield.
'I thought he had caught, honestly, because it fell behind him,' Jones said. 'But once I saw it hit the grass, I just blacked out in the moment.'
'I was watching Hernandez chugging around third,' said LSU coach Jay Johnson afterwards, then looked over at his catcher to say 'I didn't know you could run like that.'
'Got no wheels,' Hernandez answered. 'But I was running as fast as I could.'
Perhaps it was just the spell LSU can put on games in Omaha.
'I had a straight-on view on it,' Arkansas coach Dave Van Horne said Hernandez' double. 'It was hit hard … It was kind of hooking and sinking. When (Davalan) slipped he probably lost sight of it.'
The game-winner was just hard enough — if it doesn't tip Kozeal's glove, it gets to the outfield cleaner and quicker and the Tigers probably have to hold Hernandez at third.
But this is LSU in Omaha, so …
'Two years ago to the day, the walk-off homer against Wake Forest,' Johnson remembered. 'I felt something in my body I've never felt before. Greatest moment of my life — now it's tied for first.'
It was a long haul.
LSU didn't score for the first five innings, but got all it could have hoped for in giving righthanded relief ace Zac Cowan just his second start of the season.
He got into the sixth inning allowing only one run, a solo homer by Ryder Helfrick in the fourth.
Cowan, who struggled at times late in the regular season, allowed four hits, didn't walk a batter and two of the baserunners he allowed were singles when LSU's infield shift backfired to open up holes. Another was on catcher's interference.
'Spectacular job by Zac,' Johnson said. 'He got us three more outs than I probably thought he would. Just pitching like a warrior and doing what he's done all year.'
LSU finally got on the board in the sixth, and took a 2-1 lead when Jake Brown came off the bench for a 2-run, pinch-hit single off of relief ace Gabe Gaeckle— with two outs, of course — that put the Tigers up 2-1.
That held up until the eighth when the game went haywire.
Jones' game-tying bomb in the eight atoned for a rare defensive miscue in the top of the inning. With the bases loaded with Razorbacks, LSU might have gotten out of the inning with no damage, but Jones couldn't snag a relay throw on an attempted double play and when the ball rolled away from him a second run scored for a 3-2 Arkansas lead.
Arkansas got the lead again the ninth, 5-3, on Justin Thomas' 2-run single.
The Razorbacks were one out from forcing another game Thursday night.
But, as Jones said, 'There's no clock in baseball. There's 27 outs (and) with our offense, it's a tough task to do.
'Happy Luis got the job done — and I'm happy I was able to drive him in.'
NOTEBOOK
WEIRD PLAY: LSU was denied the third out of the second inning when, upon further review, catchers' interference was ruled against catcher Luis Hernandez on a fly ball to centerfield.
Instead of the third out, Justin Thomas was awarded first base, and Cam Kozeal went to second.
LSU, which was already in the dugout before being called back out for the review, did get the third out on the next batter.
It went in the scorebook as an error.
PLAY OF THE GAME: LSU shortstop Steven Milam went deep into the hole on the game's second batter, went to his knees to stop Wehiwa Aloy's ground ball on the outfield grass, then made the one-hop throw to first while bouncing to feet to get the out.
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