2017 College World Series: LSU advances to the finals after defeating Oregon State 6-1.
OMAHA, Neb. — LSU hit three home runs while Caleb Gilbert and the Tigers pitching staff plowed down No. 1 Oregon State (56-6) for the second-straight day to advance to the College World Series Championship final series, 6-1, on Saturday afternoon.
No. 4- seeded LSU (52-18) advanced to the best-of-three series and will face the winner of Florida and TCU on Monday at 6 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by ESPN.
LSU has played in the championship series once before – a 2-1 series win over Texas for the 2009 CWS national title – and have a perfect 6-0 record in all CWS championship games.
Catcher Michael Papierski hit homers from both sides of the plate including a three-run shot from the left side off Oregon State starter Bryce Fehmel (6-3) that gave LSU a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.
Meanwhile, Gilbert (7-1) picked up where Alex Lange and Zack Hess left off in a 3-1 two-hit victory on Friday.
Starting for only the fifth time in 2017, he retired the first 11 Beavers he faced before a fourth-inning walk, and allowed only two hits in 7 1/3 innings with a career-best seven strikeouts. He threw 97 pitches and left the game after Oregon State’s only run, a solo home run that cut the LSU lead to 6-1.
For the second-straight day, Hess entered with one out in the eighth inning and recorded a pair of outs to get out of the inning with no further damage. Hess allowed a single through the right side and a walk to start the ninth inning, but turned the inning around with a strikeout, a foul-out and groundout.
Oregon State suffered consecutive defeats for the first time since May 10 and 13, 2016. The Beavers’ offense batted .085 against LSU in the past two games (5-for-59) with six walks and 21 strikeouts. Prior to the four home runs allowed to the Tigers, Oregon State had only allowed 21 in 2017.
Speaking of home runs, LSU gave its pitching staff an early lead once again with a two-out rally in the second inning off Fehmel. Josh Smith earned a full-count walk and moved to third on a double down the left-field line by Beau Jordan. On a 3-1 count, Papierski knocked a home run to right field that put the Tigers ahead 3-0.
The Tigers added to the lead in the third and chased Fehmel from the game with an RBI single by Antoine Duplantis that drove in Kramer Robertson for a 4-0 lead.
With one out in the fourth, Papierski hit a solo homer from the right side of the plate off Oregon State reliever Brandon Eisert. Beau Jordan capped LSU’s scoring in the sixth inning with a solo shot of his own off OSU’s Drew Rasmussen that pushed the advantage to 6-0.
