LSU beats WFU to force a Thursday rematch to advance to CWS finals

Freshman reliever Griffin Herring delivered 4.2 shutout innings, giving LSU’s offense time to score all the runs it needed in a 5-2 victory over No. 1 seed Wake Forest Wednesday night in Omaha.

The Tigers (51-16), with pitching ace Paul Skenes as the likely starter, will face WFU (53-11) and its top hurler Rhett Lowder Thursday at 6 p.m. with the winner advancing to play Florida in a best two-of-three finals series starting Saturday.

“It was a great team win,” LSU head coach Jay Johnson said. “Had a little bit of adversity early in the game there, and really responded offensively. Really proud of the pitching staff. Everybody contributed tonight.”

It appeared there would be no tomorrow for LSU after starter Javen Coleman and reliever Blake Money made it through just the first 11 batters before Herring entered with two outs in the second inning with WFU leading 2-0.

Herring immediately doused the Deacons’ rally by striking out first baseman Nick Kurtz, WFU’s batting average leader.

It ignited Herring’s longest performance (in innings pitched and pitch count) of the season. He retired 14 of the 19 batters he faced, striking out six, walking one, hitting one batter with a pitch and allowing three hits.

“I think I kind of was able to feed off the adrenaline instead of letting it get to me, kind of like a steroid shot,” said Herring, who threw 80 pitches vs. WFU after last pitching 16 days ago in LSU’s Super Regional title-clinching win over Oregon State. "I was just kind of out there throwing the ball and just looking at Al (catcher Alex Milazzo). That was pretty much it. I never really felt like they can't touch me. I was just throwing the ball.”

Fellow relievers Gavin Guidry and Riley Cooper, making his third save of the CWS, shut out the Deacons in the final 2.2 innings.

Guidry stepped into Herring’s bases-loaded jam with one out in the seventh, escaping unscathed with two straight strikeouts.

Cooper, who threw 22 pitches closing LSU’s 6-3 win over Tennessee last Saturday and 40 pitches again closing a 5-0 win over the Vols Tuesday, inherited two WFU base runners when he replaced Guidry with two outs in the eighth.

“A lot of water and sleep,” Cooper explained why he was able to throw 62 pitches in the last two days. “I try to sleep as much as I can and I just show up and I feel good.”

It took Cooper 20 pitches to get the game’s final four outs, allowing just one base runner.

While the Deacons outhit LSU 7 (all singles) to 6 and both teams drew six walks, the difference was three of the Tigers’ five runs were scored by batters who were walked by WFU pitchers.

LSU designated hitter Cade Beloso was the offensive catalyst, hitting a three-run homer in the Tigers’ four-run third inning and scoring his team’s first run when he led off the second inning with a walk and came home on right fielder Brayden Jobert’s RBI double.

“I got a changeup at my thigh and put a good swing on it and it went over the fence,” Beloso said of his home run.

It was a frustrating night for the Deacons. They left 11 runners on base including stranding two each in the first, second, fifth, seventh and eighth innings.

“We had people on base all day,” Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter said. “We were 2-for-17 with runners on base today. And that's going to be hard-pressed to win a game with those kinds of numbers with people on base.

“Herring was the difference. He was kind of effectively wild. He would have big misses then he'd locate. And he's got a good arm. He's got good stuff. I don't think he has thrown 80 pitches in a game. I don't think he's thrown 80 pitches in a week all year, based on the numbers. And he went out there and gave them 80 really good pitches.”

Those pitches were sorely needed after Coleman and Money got LSU off to a rocky start.

Coleman, who missed all last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, had only pitched 12.2 innings in seven appearances this season.

He lasted just 1.1 innings vs. the Deacons, throwing just 18 strikes in 40 pitches and walking four of the WFU nine batters he faced. After he issued back-to-back one-out walks to load the bases in the WFU second, Money replaced Coleman.

Money, who had given up at least one run in 11 of his last 13 outings this season, immediately served up a two-RBI single to WFU center fielder Tommy Hawke.

After Money got WFU left fielder Lucas Costello to hit a fielders choice grounder for a force-out, Johnson yanked Money after six pitches and inserted lefty reliever Herring. He struck out Kurtz to extinguish what could have been an extended rally.

“He mixed well and he threw all his pitches for strikes,” Johnson said of Herring. “He had great composure. I think he plays older than his age. And I think throughout this season he's pitched in enough high-leverage spots."

LSU’s offensive challenge was solving WFU starting pitcher Seth Keener, who had an 8-1 record and 2.18 ERA, the second-best on a pitching staff that has the lowest ERA in college baseball.

The Tigers got their first run off Keener in the bottom of the second to cut the WFU lead to 2-1. Jobert’s two-out RBI double down the right field line scored Beloso who had walked.

LSU kept the pressure on. It immediately loaded the bases in the bottom of the third when Crews walked, first baseman Tre’ Morgan singled and second baseman Gavin Dugas walked.

With Beloso at the plate, Crews scored the game-tying run on a Keener wild pitch. Down 2-0 in the count, Keener then grooved a pitch that Beloso whacked for a three-run homer into WFU’s right-field bullpen for a 5-2 lead.

“I had a chance to walk Beloso there with a 2-0 count,” WFU’s Walter said. “I wanted to do it. I was in between. I should have pulled the trigger on an intentional walk there and loaded the bases for (LSU shortstop Jordan) Thompson.

“Beloso’s a good hitter. Should have walked him in that situation and it would have been a totally different game had I done that, put a little more pressure on them.”

Keener exited with one out in the LSU fifth after walking Morgan and then throwing a wild pitch that advanced Morgan to second base.

WFU lefty reliever Sean Sullivan, one of four Deacons’ pitchers with a sub 3.00 ERA, entered and put out the fire on a Dugas fly out to left center and a Beloso strikeout.

Herring finally reached the end of a superb performance in the WFU seventh. He gave up a leadoff single to Hawke, hit Costello with a pitch and got a force out at second on a fielder’s choice grounder by Kurtz.

Guidry entered to face WFU third baseman Brock Wilken, college baseball’s home run leader.

Guidry, who was pulled from LSU’s Saturday win over Tennessee after one pitch when he gave up a two-run homer, struck out Wilken on three pitches and fanned WFU second baseman Justin Johnson to kill the rally.

WFU put together a two-out rally in the top of the eighth when the Deacons’ 8-hole and 9-hole hitters catcher Bennett Lee and shortstop Marek Houston singled.

With WFU’s top of the batting order coming to the plate, Guidry was removed and Cooper entered.

He got Hawke to line out to LSU third baseman Tommy White to snuff the threat.

The Tigers failed to score while leaving one runner on in the bottom of the eighth. Pinch-runner Jack Merrifield was tagged out trying to steal home plate for the third out.

That left Cooper to take on the heart of the WFU batting order to get the game’s final three outs.

WFU’s Costello led off with a walk after a nine-pitch at-bat. But Cooper rebounded by striking out Kurtz and Wilken looking and inducing Johnson into a game-inning ground out.

“Credit to their pitchers,” WFU right fielder Pierce Bennett said. “They kind of quieted the storm. They slowed it down. They were fighting.”

And now, LSU is in exactly the same spot it was in 2017 on its last trip to the CWS.

Back then, the Tigers coached by Paul Mainieri had to fight back through the losers bracket and beat No. 1 seed Oregon State twice in two days to advance to the championship series vs. Florida where it lost to the Gators in two games. The LSU wins over OSU was the only time in its 56-6 season that the Beavers lost two straight games.

This time, again coming through the losers’ bracket, the Tigers need a second win in two days over No. 1 seed WFU to face the Gators who advanced to the finals with a 3-2 win over TCU earlier Wednesday.

And yes, the Deacons have yet to suffer two consecutive losses this season.

The difference this time for the Tigers compared to 2017 is LSU will have its best pitcher available to start.

Skenes, college baseball’s strikeout leader who’s three strikeouts shy of erasing former LSU hurler Ben McDonald’s school and SEC season strikeout record of 202, has rested four days since throwing 123 pitches in last Saturday’s CWS opening win over Tennessee.

Though Johnson was non-commital after Wednesday's win about Skenes’ availability – “We have a pre-throw process that we go through with pitchers and their availability and testing and recovery and all of those types of things,” Johnson said – the Deacons’ Walter wasn’t buying it.

“I do expect to see Paul Skenes tomorrow,” Walter said. “He threw before the game today. He was cutting it loose pretty good. I imagine that's exactly who we'll see.”