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Recap: LSU wins Game 7, will face West Virginia in Baton Rouge Super Regional

By David Web

LSU baseball entered Monday night’s matchup against the Little Rock Trojans with no margin for error. After losing to the Trojans 10-4 on Sunday, Monday’s contest was a winner-take-all Game 7. The winner would advance to face West Virginia in the Super Regionals. LSU made a big comeback to win this game 10-6.

LSU was once again the visiting team, and the Tigers once again took an early lead as Ethan Frey hit a solo shot in the top of the first to give LSU a 1-0 lead.

Entering the game tonight, LSU had Zac Cowan and Casan Evans fresh to pitch, so I felt good about LSU’s odds. Cowan got the start, and he worked through the first inning unscathed.

Unfortunately, the wheels fell off for LSU in the bottom of the second inning. The Trojans scored five runs against Cowan as they kept stringing together hits to give Little Rock a 5-1 lead.

Casan Evans was called out of the bullpen to try to save the day for LSU. He got the Tigers out of the inning, but the Trojans had done a ton of damage. At this point, anxiety had set in for the LSU faithful. They saw this same script play out last night, and it did not end well for LSU.

I understand that things looked bleak, but there was still a lot of baseball left. This team still had enough pop in their sticks to make a comeback. That comeback began in the top of the fourth inning. LSU loaded the bases, and Frey hit a three-RBI double to cut the lead to 5-4.

Evans was able to keep the Trojans off the scoreboard and keep the Tigers in the game.

In the top of the sixth inning, Indiana State transfer Luis Hernandez came through with a solo homer to tie the game 5-5! In the top of the seventh inning, Frey led off the inning with a double and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. An RBI groundout by Stephen Milam would score Frey and give LSU their first lead since the first inning!

With LSU clinging to a one-run lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, Evans remained on the mound. He found himself in a jam as three walks loaded the bases with two outs. Anthony Eyanson began to warm up in the bullpen. There is no tomorrow if the Tigers lose this game, so Jay Johnson was preparing to bring in one of his two aces to try to win. Evans then struck out the next hitter he faced to strand all three runners and get LSU out of the inning with a 6-5 lead.

One thing that would make LSU fans feel better at this moment would be some insurance runs. Hernandez would be the leadoff hitter in the top of the eighth inning, and he had homered in his last at-bat to tie the game 5-5. On the first pitch he saw in the top of the eighth inning, he hit ANOTHER homer to extend the LSU lead to 7-5.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Evans passed the century mark as he had thrown over 100 pitches. Back-to-back hits put the tying run on first base with no outs, and Eyanson began ramping up his activity in the bullpen again. The next Trojan hitter laid down a bunt to try to put the tying run at second base, but Evans fielded the ball and got the out at third to spoil the bunt.

Evans was then pulled from the game as Eyanson entered with one out and runners on first and second. The first hitter Eyanson faced hit an RBI single up the middle to cut the lead to 7-6. The next hitter was retired via the strikeout for out number two. Tanner Reaves then made a great play at third, and Jared Jones made a stretch to get out number three. We would head to the ninth inning with the Tigers leading 7-6.

Jake Brown walked to start the top of the ninth inning to bring up Jones. It is no secret that Jared Jones had been in hibernation during this regional. Entering this at-bat, Jones was 1-for-14 (.071) in three games in the Baton Rouge Regional. Finally, the “Bear” got the proverbial monkey off of his back as he hit a two-run bomb to extend the LSU lead to 9-6. An RBI single from Hernandez would score Chris Stanfield and make it 10-6, Tigers.

Eyanson went out to pitch the ninth inning and close out the win for the Tigers. He retired the Trojans 1-2-3, and LSU advances to face West Virginia in a Super Regional at Alex Box Stadium. It was not easy, but Ethan Frey, Casan Evans, and Luis Hernandez came through when LSU needed them the most. The Tigers will welcome the Mountaineers into Alex Box Stadium.

This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: Recap: LSU baseball storms back to beat Little Rock in game seven

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