Latest news with #LittleRock
American Press
3 hours ago
- Sport
- American Press
Little Rock 'walks' all over LSU to force must-win Monday game
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.'
San Francisco Chronicle
4 hours ago
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Cano, Little Rock beat No. 6 national seed LSU 10-4, force decisive game Monday in Baton Rouge
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Angel Cano hit a two-run home run in the second inning and a bases-clearing double in the third to help No. 4 seed Little Rock beat host and top-seeded LSU 10-4 on Saturday night to win avoid elimination at the Baton Rouge Regional on Sunday night. The Trojans (27-33), making their second NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2014, can clinch a berth in the super regionals with a win Monday over No. 6 national seed LSU. LSU beat Little Rock 7-0 on Friday and followed Saturday with a 12-0 win over Dallas Baptist to advance to the championship round. The Trojans, who lost 13 of 14 to close the regular season before winning five straight to win the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, exploded for 22 runs Saturday in a win over Rhode Island and beat Dallas Baptist 8-6 in an elimination game earlier Sunday. Steven Milam hit a two-RBI single to cap LSU's three run first inning but Angel Cano hit a two-run home run in the second for the Trojans. Ryan Geck grounded out to lead off the third before Ty Rhoades, Cade Martin and Cooper Chaplain drew consecutive walks to load the bases. Cano fouled off three consecutive two-strike pitches before he hit a bases-clearing double off Chase Shores (5-3), who was immediately replaced by Cooper Williams after allowing four runs in an inning of relief. Starter Noah Burkey gave up three runs on six hits in 1 2/3 innings before he was replaced by Brenden Katz (1-0), who pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Malcolm Brown threw 5 1/3 innings and gave up a run on three hits to earn his first save of the season.
Washington Post
4 hours ago
- General
- Washington Post
Cano, Little Rock beat No. 6 national seed LSU 10-4, force decisive game Monday in Baton Rouge
BATON ROUGE, La. — Angel Cano hit a two-run home run in the second inning and a bases-clearing double in the third to help No. 4 seed Little Rock beat host and top-seeded LSU 10-4 on Saturday night to win avoid elimination at the Baton Rouge Regional on Sunday night. The Trojans (27-33), making their second NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2014, can clinch a berth in the super regionals with a win Monday over No. 6 national seed LSU.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Cano, Little Rock beat No. 6 national seed LSU 10-4, force decisive game Monday in Baton Rouge
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Angel Cano hit a two-run home run in the second inning and a bases-clearing double in the third to help No. 4 seed Little Rock beat host and top-seeded LSU 10-4 on Saturday night to win avoid elimination at the Baton Rouge Regional on Sunday night. The Trojans (27-33), making their second NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2014, can clinch a berth in the super regionals with a win Monday over No. 6 national seed LSU. Advertisement LSU beat Little Rock 7-0 on Friday and followed Saturday with a 12-0 win over Dallas Baptist to advance to the championship round. The Trojans, who lost 13 of 14 to close the regular season before winning five straight to win the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, exploded for 22 runs Saturday in a win over Rhode Island and beat Dallas Baptist 8-6 in an elimination game earlier Sunday. Steven Milam hit a two-RBI single to cap LSU's three run first inning but Angel Cano hit a two-run home run in the second for the Trojans. Ryan Geck grounded out to lead off the third before Ty Rhoades, Cade Martin and Cooper Chaplain drew consecutive walks to load the bases. Cano fouled off three consecutive two-strike pitches before he hit a bases-clearing double off Chase Shores (5-3), who was immediately replaced by Cooper Williams after allowing four runs in an inning of relief. Starter Noah Burkey gave up three runs on six hits in 1 2/3 innings before he was replaced by Brenden Katz (1-0), who pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Malcolm Brown threw 5 1/3 innings and gave up a run on three hits to earn his first save of the season. ___ AP sports: The Associated Press
USA Today
4 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Recap: LSU baseball falls as Little Rock forces a winner-take-all game on Monday
Recap: LSU baseball falls as Little Rock forces a winner-take-all game on Monday LSU entered Sunday night's game against the Little Rock Trojans with one goal in mind: a trip to the Super Regionals. All they had to do was beat a team that they defeated 7-0 in the first game of the regional on Friday. The Trojans put up six runs in the first three innings, and LSU could not rally, and the Tigers lost 10-4. LSU was the visiting team in this game (that is a rant for another day). In the top of the first inning, LSU got out to a 3-0 lead as Danny Dickinson hit an RBI single and Steven Milam hit a two-RBI single. Jaden Noot got the start on the mound for the Tigers. In the first two games of the Regional, LSU did not give up any runs. That all changed at the bottom of the second inning when Little Rock hit a two-run homer to cut the lead to 3-2. In the top of the third inning, LSU loaded the bases for Michael Braswell, but he flew out to Center Field to end the inning. Chase Shores entered the game to pitch in the bottom of the third inning. After recording a groundout, he walked the bases loaded, and then a double cleared the bases and gave Little Rock a 6-3 lead. Cooper Williams would then enter to pitch. In the top of the fourth inning, LSU once again loaded the bases. This time, Ethan Frey was the one up to bat. Frey popped out to the shortstop to end the inning, and the Tigers left the runners stranded for the second inning in a row. In the top of the fifth inning, LSU cut into the lead as a wild pitch scored Luis Hernandez to make it 6-4 Little Rock. Both teams were retired three up, three down in the sixth and seventh innings. Jacob Mayers entered to pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning. He retired all three batters he faced, and we headed to the top of the eighth inning with LSU still trailing by two runs. Once again, LSU was retired without getting anyone on base, and the Tigers were down to their final three outs. Mayers trotted back out onto the mound in the eighth inning and walked the first three batters to load the bases with no outs. A sacrifice fly got the first out, but it increased the Trojans' lead to 7-4. Mayers walked another hitter, and the bases were loaded once again. Mavrick Rizy was then brought in to pitch. An RBI groundout scored another run to make it 8-4. A wild pitch scored another run to make it 9-4. An RBI single would increase the lead to 10-4. Tonight's loss marked the first time in LSU history that the Tigers lost to a No. 4 seed in a Baton Rouge Regional. It sets up a winner-take-all game against Little Rock tomorrow. I do not know who the Trojans will have pitching, but I have a really good idea of who we will see from LSU. We are going to see some combination of Casan Evans and Zac Cowan. We have not seen either of those guys in this regional, and now is the time for those guys to slam the door on Little Rock and send us to a Super Regional against West Virginia. Tomorrow's game will be played at a time to be announced.
