Another late-inning rally lifts Tigers past Southern Miss, into regional finals

The Tigers came back to beat Kennesaw State late on Friday night, and they pulled the same magic on Saturday against top-seeded Southern Miss.

After the dramatic win against Kennesaw State on Friday night, LSU moved on in the winner’s bracket to face the host and No. 11 national seed in the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles.

Just like the prior night, LSU pulled off some late-inning magic as it rallied from being down 6-2 in the ninth inning to win the game 7-6 in extra innings.

[autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag] got the start on the mound, and he pitched six innings, allowing four runs on six hits and four strikeouts. The Tigers scored the first run in the bottom of the first inning as [autotag]Tre Morgan[/autotag] hit an RBI single to score [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag] and make it 1-0.

In the top of the second, Southern Miss struck back with a two-run homer to take a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the inning, [autotag]Tyler McManus[/autotag] hit a solo shot to tie it at two runs each.

Southern Miss tacked on four more runs before the Tigers got to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning trailing 6-2. [autotag]Josh Stevenson[/autotag] hit a fly ball for out No. 1, but Crews then launched a Crews Missile to cut the lead to 6-3.

[autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag] flew out for out No. 2, but [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] kept the game alive with a single to bring up [autotag]Cade Doughty[/autotag], who hit a two-run blast to cut the lead to 6-5.

Still with two outs, Morgan stepped up and was hit by a pitch. So, the tying run was on first base as [autotag]Jordan Thompson[/autotag] stepped into the box. [autotag]Drew Bianco[/autotag] came in to pinch run for Morgan as Southern Miss made a call to the bullpen for a new pitcher.

Bianco stole second, and Thompson hit an RBI single to tie the game at six. The Tigers clawed their way back after being down 6-2 at the start of the inning to tie it up, and we headed to extra innings in Hattiesburg.

[autotag]Paul Gervase[/autotag] came in to pitch the top of the 10th inning as the Tigers looked to try to get three quick outs and get back to swinging the bats. Gervase retired the Golden Eagles 1-2-3, and we went to the bottom of the 10th with a chance for LSU to walk it off. McManus, Stevenson, and Crews were the three Tigers due up.

T-Mac started it off with a single to right field and just like that, the winning run was at first base for Stevenson. [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] brought in [autotag]Collier Cranford[/autotag] to run for McManus as he pushed all of his chips in on trying to win in that frame.

Stevenson was hit by a pitch as he tried to bunt, and now there were two runners on base for Crews, who took a four-pitch walk to load the bases with no one out. The winning run was now only 90 feet away for Berry.

He reached on a fielder’s choice, but Cranford was out at home. Now with one out, bases were still loaded for Pearson. He hit into a fielder’s choice, but the Golden Eagles were unable to make the play at home as the Tigers earned an improbable walk-off.

With the win, LSU moves on to the regional final on Sunday. That game will be on Sunday at 6 p.m. CT, and it will play the winner of the elimination game between Southern Miss and Kennesaw State, who survived elimination against Army on Saturday. That game will be played earlier in the day.

If the Tigers win Sunday night, they will be heading to the super regional round. With a loss, they would play a winner-take-all rematch on Monday.

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