Little Rock 'walks' all over LSU to force must-win Monday game

American Press

2 days ago

Sunday's Game —Little Rock 10, LSU 4
Monday's Game (8 p.m. / ESPN2) — Little Rock vs. LSU
LSU coach Jay Johnson was confident he had plenty of options for the NCAA regional's championship round after burning his co-ace starting pitchers to win the first two games.
The options are still there — and maybe Johnson can find one who can throw a strike.
But the Tigers, who dominated those first two regional games without allowing a run, are fresh out of wiggle room after struggling to find the plate Sunday night in a gift-wrapped 10-4 loss to Arkansas-Little Rock.
It sets up a regional winner-take-all game Monday between the Tigers, the No. 6 national seed, and the tournament's latest and perhaps most unlikely Cinderella story.
'We've done a good job all year of bouncing back after a tough game, individually and collectively,' Johnson said. 'It gives me great confidence.
'Less than 24 hours ago, we probably played the cleanest and best brand of baseball that you could possibly play at this level. So I'm excited to see them do that tomorrow.'
Throwing strikes would be a start.
The Trojans, now 27-33, but still the only team in the NCAA tournament with a losing record, won their third straight game in Baton Rouge since falling to LSU 7-0 in the regional opener Friday night.
The latest was a walk in The Box.
The Tigers used five different pitchers to issue a season-high 11 walks. It didn't matter that LSU out-hit the Trojans 11-8.
Eight of the Trojans' 10 runs reached base via walks, the last one, perhaps fittingly, scoring on the last of the Tigers' four wild pitches.
'Our game tonight kind of speaks for itself where it got away from us,' Johnson said. 'We'll leave it here tonight, turn all our focus to tomorrow and find a way to play great.'
The Tigers' hitters won't be doing much finger-pointing.
After taking a 3-0 lead in the first, the Tigers had only one base runner over the final four inning — briefly before he was erased by a double play.
But LSU stranded 11 over the first five innings, seven of them in scoring position. The Tigers left the bases loaded without scoring in both the third and fourth innings.
'Credit them,' Johnson said of the four pitchers Little Rock pieced together for the nine innings. 'I thought they executed a few good pitches at key times and we … trying to do too much is not a good plan.'
Regardless of who wins Monday, Trojan first baseman Angel Canon pretty well wrapped up the regional MVP award.
He hit a 2-run homer and a 3-run double against LSU, giving him three bombs, three doubles and 14 RBIs in the Trojans' three wins.
The Tigers set the table for him.
LSU starter Jaden Noot walked a man just before Cano's home run in the second and Chase Shores walked the first three batters of the third inning before Cano cleared the bases with a double.
Somehow LSU stayed within striking distance until the Trojans put it away with four runs in the eighth— all four reaching by walks, three of them scoring before the only hit of the inning.
It was LSU's first-ever loss at home to a regional No. 4 seed. They're now 19-1 since the current format began in 1999.
Little Rock has done this before.
The Trojans needed a tie-breaker just to make the eight-team field of the of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, then won five games in four days to claim a bid to the NCAA tournament.
They bounced back from Friday's loss to LSU to beat Rhode Island on Saturday and took down Dallas Baptist earlier Sunday afternoon to get another shot at the Tigers.
'They're a hot team,' Johnson said. 'They've been playing well for the past two weeks. You give a team that's playing well more opportunities, you put yourself in a tough spot.
'Just like everybody else, I would have rather won tonight and wrapped it up. We didn't and that's because the opponent did a great job. I just think about the opportunity for tomorrow.'