LSU Stuns Oregon State to advance to CWS Championship

OMAHA, Neb. (TNS) — Five days ago, LSU was on the brink of elimination needing three wins, including two in a row against an Oregon State team that had just beat it 13-1 and had lost four times in its first 60 games.

Saturday, the Tigers clinched a spot in the College World Series championship with a 6-1 win. LSU needed a complete team effort to do so.

Sophomore right-hander Caleb Gilbert pitched the game of his life. His career high was 5.2 innings before Saturday. When he handed the ball to LSU coach Paul Mainieri to come out of the game, there was one out in the eighth inning.

He only allowed two hits in those 7.1 innings, one of which was a solo home run that chased him from the game.

For the third time in four days, LSU turned the game over to freshman right-hander Zack Hess to record the final outs of the game. While Hess showed some signs of fatigue, he got the job done all the same, sending LSU into the College World Series final.

Oregon State was expected to start hard-throwing right-hander Drew Rasmussen on the mound, but shortly before game time announced it would be starting right-hander Bryce Fehmel instead.

Fehmel spun a gem against LSU five days earlier in Oregon State’s 13-1 drubbing of the Tigers, allowing just one run on two hits in eight masterful innings.

But it was a risky decision, considering that LSU’s lineup already saw what Fehmel was working with. And Fehmel did not have near the same amount of success Saturday.

He walked Josh Smith with two out in the second, then allowed a double to Beau Jordan to bring Michael Papierski to the plate with runners at second and third.

Papierski worked the count to 3-1, got his pitch and did not waste it. The switch-hitter yanked a three-run bomb to right field to give LSU a lead it would not relinquish.

LSU chased Fehmel from the game in the third inning, after an Antoine Duplantis RBI single gave LSU a 4-0 advantage.

Papierski and Jordan put the cherries on top of LSU’s day at the plate.

With one out in the fourth, Papierski launched his second home run of the game — this one right-handed — to give LSU a 5-0 lead. Jordan followed with a solo home run of his own off Rasmussen in the sixth.

LSU will face the winner of Saturday night’s game between TCU and Florida in a three-game championship series, starting Monday.