Tag: 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament

LSU baseball’s regional game vs. Oregon State in a weather delay

Weather continues to complicate things at the Baton Rouge Regional this weekend.

Weather continues to complicate things at the Baton Rouge Regional this weekend.

With LSU trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the third in Sunday’s game against Oregon State, which itself was rescheduled from Saturday night, paused due to lightning in the area.

As of publication, there’s no timetable for the game resuming. The loser of this game was set to face Sam Houston State at 9 p.m. CT, but now it’s unclear if that game will be pushed back or even moved to Monday.

The official LSU baseball Twitter account encouraged fans in attendance at Alex Box Stadium to seek shelter, and fans who leave the stadium will be permitted to return.

[autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag] got the start on the mound, allowing five hits but just one earned run in three innings with five strikeouts and two walks. Now, his day will almost certainly be over as LSU will likely turn to the bullpen whenever the game resumes.

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How the SEC fared in Day 2 of the NCAA regionals

The SEC finished Saturday with a 4-4 record as two games were postponed to Sunday.

Day 2 of the NCAA baseball regionals wasn’t as kind to the SEC as Day 1 was. The SEC finished Saturday 4-4 with two games getting postponed until Sunday.

All of the high-profile matchups lived up to the hype and maybe even were better than we expected. Tennessee vs. Clemson and Florida vs Texas Tech were must-watch television. Kentucky and Indiana played a great game, as well.

The early slate of games didn’t go well for the SEC, but the late-night games swung in the conference’s favor as Alabama, Texas A&M and the Volunteers all pulled out victories while Vanderbilt came up short against Oregon.

Here’s a recap of all the league games from Saturday.

How the SEC fared in Day 1 of NCAA regionals

The SEC tied a conference record after finishing Day 1 with a 9-1 mark.

The SEC has 10 teams in the 16 regional tournaments including eight hosts. The only non-hosts were Tennessee and Texas A&M and they both drew a No. 2 seed in their respectful regional.

After the dust settled on day one of the regionals. The SEC finished the day 9-1, tying the record for the most wins by a conference in one day of the tournament. (SEC went 9-0 in 2005). Thanks, Auburn, for ruining the perfect day.

The Tigers were also one of three national seeds which were upset on Day 1.

Here’s a full recap of how league teams fared during the opening round of the regionals Friday.

LSU to face Oregon State in Baton Rouge Regional winners’ bracket Saturday

The Beavers absolutely clobbered Sam Houston State in the nightcap on Friday, winning 18-2.

LSU’s recent postseason rivalry with Oregon State renews on Saturday as the teams face off in the winners’ bracket of the Baton Rouge Regional.

The second-seeded Beavers clobbered third-seeded Sam Houston State in the nightcap, winning 18-2 behind 22 hits and three innings scoring at least four runs. OSU didn’t have to go too deep into its bullpen. Two relievers combined for five outs.

The Tigers, on the other hand, didn’t have to dip into the bullpen, at all. Ace [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] drew the start, and he pitched a complete game (the first of nine innings in his career). LSU beat Tulane 7-2 to advance to the winners’ game.

These programs have met seven times, and all have come in the postseason. They last faced each other in the Corvallis Regional in 2018, when the Beavers took two games by a combined score of 26-1.

LSU will hope for a better result this time around.

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LSU beats Tulane in Game 1 of the Baton Rouge Regional

Paul Skenes pitched the first nine-inning complete game in his career as the Tigers took down their in-state rival.

Much to the surprise of many, [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] got the start on the mound for Game 1 of the Baton Rouge Regional against 19-40 Tulane.

We’ll see if that pays off in the long run for coach Jay Johnson and the Tigers, but it certainly did on Friday as they opened their NCAA tournament run with a 7-2 win to advance to the winners’ bracket.

LSU drew first blood in the bottom of the first inning when [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag] scored on a [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] RBI double to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the second inning, the Tigers tacked on two more runs when [autotag]Brayden Jobert[/autotag] scored on an RBI double and [autotag]Gavin Dugas[/autotag] scored on an RBI groundout by [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] to make it 3-0.

In the bottom of the third inning, Travinski scored on an RBI groundout by Jobert to give LSU a 4-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, LSU scored two runs off of two sacrifice flyouts to score [autotag]Cade Beloso[/autotag] and Travinski to make it 6-0 Tigers after 5 innings.

In the top of the seventh inning, Tulane finally got on the board with a two-run homer off of Skenes to cut the lead to 6-2.

LSU loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth inning and Travinski walked to score another run to make the score 7-2 LSU as we headed to the ninth inning.

Skenes stayed on the mound to start the ninth inning as he looked to pitch his first complete game. Skenes retired the hitters 1-2-3 as he pitched the first nine-inning complete game of his career. His final stat line was nine innings pitched as he allowed two runs on seven hits, zero walks and 12 strikeouts.

LSU moves on to the winners’ bracket to face the victor of Friday night’s matchup between Oregon State/Sam Houston State on Saturday.

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Duke’s MJ Metz hit 3 home runs on 1 ACL in NCAA tournament opener

Metz batted in five runs in his first game since tearing his ACL on May 23.

Despite trailing early in its NCAA tournament opener against North Carolina-Wilmington on Friday afternoon, the Duke baseball team surged to a 12-3 win thanks to an offensive explosion.

Much of that can be attributed to MJ Metz, a graduate transfer from Division III Trinity who hit three home runs and five RBI in the victory. That stat line alone is impressive enough without context, but that outing was even more phenomenal than initially meets the eye.

Metz’s appearance against the Seahawks on Friday was his first since May 23, when he suffered a knee injury that was later revealed to be a torn ACL. Despite literally having a disconnected ligament in one of his knees, Metz suited up for the Blue Devils and ultimately proved to be the hero in the win.

After the game, Metz celebrated his prolific performance in the most fitting way possible: Stacking as many baseball caps on his head as he could.

Duke will hope the Metz Magic will continue on Saturday when it plays the victor of the game between Rider and host Coastal Carolina at the Conway Regional.

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Paul Skenes to start LSU’s regional opener vs. Tulane

When LSU opens the Baton Rouge Regional against the Green Wave, it will do so with the National Player of the Year on the mound.

When LSU takes the field at Alex Box Stadium on Friday afternoon against Tulane to begin the Baton Rouge Regional, it will do so with the National Player of the Year on the mound.

In a fairly surprising decision, Tigers coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] announced that ace [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] will get the start at pitcher against Tulane, which is just 19-40 but got hot at the right time and captured the American Athletic Conference tournament title.

It was expected that Skenes would be saved for a potentially tougher matchup later in the weekend, but the Tigers will look to secure an opening win and put themselves in the winners’ bracket on Saturday.

Skenes, who was also named a First Team All-American after transferring in from Air Force last offseason, is 10-2 on the season with a 1.89 earned run average. A projected top-two pick in this summer’s MLB draft, Skenes’ 167 strikeouts this season is the second-highest single-season mark at LSU behind Ben McDonald’s 202 in 1989.

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How to watch LSU baseball open the Baton Rouge Regional against Tulane on Friday

The Tigers open their postseason run against the 19-40 Green Wave.

It’s NCAA tournament time once again for LSU baseball, and unlike in coach Jay Johnson’s first season, the Tigers are hosting a regional as the No. 5 national seed.

They’re joined in the Baton Rouge Regional by Oregon State — a team LSU has a good deal of history with — and Sam Houston State, but first, Johnson’s team will face Tulane.

The Green Wave are 19-40 on the year and have the worst record of any team in the tournament. Tulane went 8-16 in American play and only won a single regular season series, but they went 4-1 en route to a conference tournament title.

Here’s what you need to know to watch as LSU begins its postseason run.

LSU coach Jay Johnson updates Tommy White, team injury status entering regionals

White missed the SEC tournament loss to Texas A&M, but he’s expected to play Friday night.

Despite a frustrating close to the regular season, LSU remains poised to make a potential deep run in the NCAA tournament as the No. 5 seed.

When the Tigers open up the Baton Rouge Regional on Friday afternoon against Tulane, there will be one player fans will hope to see return to the lineup: first baseman [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag].

The NC State transfer and national RBI leader missed LSU’s elimination game loss against Texas A&M in the NCAA tournament, though coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] said he was “banged up” and it was mostly for rest purposes.

Based on Johnson’s comments in an interview with the SEC Network, it seems White is expected to play against the Green Wave.

“I anticipate (White) being able to play on Friday,” Johnson said. “He was a little banged up, but he needed that rest and we gave it to him. It was hard to do… I think it was the right thing for Tommy and ultimately the right thing to do for our team.”

Johnson said that the rest of the team is looking good from a health perspective and that the week the Tigers had off could prove beneficial as the team enters regional play.

“For the rest of the position players, I think we’re in a good spot,” Johnson said. “I think a couple days off was not the worst thing in the world. You look at [autotag]Jordan Thompson[/autotag], he’s played in every game since I’ve been the coach here. You look at [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag], he’s played in every game since I’ve been the coach here.

“Those guys play two of the most demanding positions on the field. So, for them to get a rest and to get their legs underneath them, for them to get mental rest the last few days, I think was positive. We feel like we have a good plan in preparing for the week and doing the things we need to do to get ready. I feel like we’re in a pretty good spot.”

After dropping two of the final three regular-season series and exiting the SEC tournament shy of the semifinal round with a 2-2 record, LSU will hope it can get hot at the right time and make a run to Omaha for the first time since 2017.

The Tigers open up the Baton Rouge Regional against Tulane at Alex Box Stadium at 2 p.m. CT Friday.

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Where LSU baseball stands in final national rankings entering regional play

The final rankings before the NCAA Tournament have been released.

The final rankings before regionals have been released, and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons finished the year as the unanimous No. 1 team in the country.

They are one of 16 teams that earned the right to host a regional and one of eight teams with the right to host a super regional. The regional hosts were more decided by RPI rankings than baseball polls.

A lot of analysts and coaches believe that the RPI system is broken, but we have yet to find a fix for it. LSU finished the year as the No. 5 seed and as low as the No. 7 team in the country, depending on the poll.

Here’s how all the final national rankings look entering the Baton Rouge Regional this week.