Ryan McGeeESPN Senior Writer Jun 22, 2023 00:23 ET6 minutes read
LSU takes a 5-2 lead through Cade Beloso’s 3-run HR
Cade Beloso hits a triple home run into right field and gives the Tigers a 5-2 lead.
Omaha, Neb. — In the end, deep down, we should have known there was going to be another game between LSU and Wake Forest. Because in this most competitive men’s college world series, where one-run games and late-inning rallies are the order of the day, there was no way the baseball gods would allow an “if necessary” contest on Thursday night to spoil anything other than what is necessary. Especially if that meant another duel between the only two teams that have defended first place in the national rankings all season.
And so it will be. Thursday night’s prime-time title fight is all about victory and the toughest side of the team will play out to determine who will face off against the Florida Gators this weekend, with the national championship at stake.
Had Wake Forest defeated LSU in Omaha Wednesday night, this duel would already have been set. But the Demon Deacons, who were looking to win their first MCWS title since 1955 and their first for the nation No 5-5 loss to the Demon Deacons led to prepare for the rematch.
That uncharacteristic pitching faux pas happened late in the third period when starter Seth Keener, who started the game 8-1, tussled. With a 2-1 lead, the junior right-hander conceded two four-pitch walks, the first of which went semi-on purpose to the LSU All-American Dylan Crews, as well as a single and wild pitch that made the deciding run destroyed. That put batsman-designate Cade Beloso on the plate and his .613 batting average while two runners were still on base. Even with a reliever in the bullpen, Wake Forest’s plenty and justifiably vaunted pitching analytics kept Keener on the mound. Beloso went on to smash the third throw — and first punch — which he saw in the bullpen in right field. It was only the ninth time this season Wake had given up more than four runs in an inning.
“I had the chance to accompany Beloso there and I didn’t follow my first instinct,” Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter said after the loss, admitting he played with a deliberate walk to stress the bases and maybe give Sean Sullivan a chance to warm up left-handers, some more time to get ready. He did not do it. “[Keener] threw a switch he had just raised. … [Beloso] is a good batsman and I should have accompanied him in that situation. I think it would have been a completely different game if I had done that.
That score, 5-2, somehow survived the next, extremely tense five and a half frames – seven hits and twelve runners left behind by a series of situational snaps, holds and jabs – and somehow ended up being the final score.
Now there’s a much bigger score to settle. Wake Forest defeated LSU in Game 8 Monday night by a narrow 3-2 lead, which they built up early in the ninth inning. LSU returned serve Wednesday night despite exhausted pitching rumors swirling before the game. Thursday night is the rubber match. And the rubber might as well be flint. Especially when complemented by the anticipated pitching duel between two-time ACC Pitcher of the Year Rhett Lowder and consensus national pitcher of the year Paul Skenes.
LSU and Wake Forest were the only two teams in the country to finish at No. 1 this year.Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Walter is in his 27th season as head coach and 14th with the Demon Deacons; However, this is his first trip to Omaha. Jay Johnson is only in his second season at LSU and in his tenth as a Division I head coach, but this is his third appearance in the Men’s College World Series. The first two visits were to the Arizona Wildcats, including a championship series loss to another Cinderella storyline from the Carolinas, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, in 2016.
While this is Wake’s first MCWS since Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the White House, LSU has been here so many times — 19 total — that entire generations of Omaha kids have grown up in purple and gold. Nevertheless, the last LSU title celebration took place in 2009, an eternity in the Tiger years.
A win on Thursday night would be a big step towards overcoming one of those very long dry spells in the series. Sure, the Florida Gators, their perfect 3-0 MCWS record and their arms rested will be waiting for the winner on Saturday. But that will be a nice problem.
“We’re going to be in a good position tomorrow,” Walter said of his roster, some members of which had just reminded the press room that the Deacons haven’t lost a three-game streak all season. “I’m not worried about us coming out and playing well or nervous or, you know, the situation is too big for us.”
“I tell them this 365 days a year, every year, that we’re working on the setup, that we’re going to be here, that we expect to play important baseball in June,” Johnson added moments later. “If we play McNeese State on a Tuesday in March, that’s a playoff game for us. And the thinking behind it is that if you do that all year round, you can keep your character in the postseason.”
Johnson’s DH, the one who hit the three-run home run that ultimately kept this postseason alive, was a little more incisive as he headed up the stadium corridor back to the LSU bus.
“We will treat Thursday night the same as tonight. Just like any other game.”
Then fifth grader Tiger, who, despite the pandemic and a cruciate ligament rupture, was able to be here in Omaha, knowing that every time the finale of his MCWS is taped, it will also be the finale of his college baseball career, turned around, around to make a clarification.
“We’re going to treat it like any other game… but you know this isn’t a different game, right?”
Hell yes we do. It’s more than just another game. It is necessary.