2017 College World Series: LSU defeats Oregon State, sets up elimination game

LSU has forced an elimination game after their 3-1 victory over the Oregon State Beavers.

The Tigers and Beavers will do battle on Saturday for the right to get to the 2017 College World Series final now, as LSU was able to tag OSU with their first loss in Omaha on Friday afternoon.

Two runs were brought home by LSU in the second inning off the bats of Josh Smith and Beau Jordan, as Smith laced an RBI single while Jordan settled for a sacrifice bunt. Their 2-0 lead held until the bottom of the 3rd, where Trevor Lamach drew a bases loaded walk that allowed Michael Gretler to score.

The two teams would be deadlocked at 2-1 for the next three innings, with neither team willing to flinch. LSU was able to rack up some insurance after a mammoth home run by Josh Smith in the 7th inning to make it a 3-1 game.

Although blowing 3-1 leads is all the rage, the Fighting Tigers made sure they wouldn’t let that happen. Alex Lange’s dominance on the mound followed by Zack Hess’ flamethrowing kept Oregon State bats at bay as the Beaver offense only amassed two hits in the contest.

Lange spun a gem, allowing just the one run to pass, struck out eight and allowed those aforementioned two hits. He did walk four and racked up 115 pitches, but the good outweighed the bad in this case. Hess allowed no hits in his 1.2 innings of work, issued no walks and threw four strikeouts to the five batters he faced.