Advertisement
baseball Edit

Tigers open Super Regionals vs. Kentucky with trip to CWS on the line

LSU junior center fielder Dylan Crews plays his final home games this weekend in the NCAA Super Regionals.
LSU junior center fielder Dylan Crews plays his final home games this weekend in the NCAA Super Regionals. (Courtesy of LSU Athletics)

In theory, LSU would like to treat the next few days hosting fellow SEC member Kentucky starting Saturday at 2 p.m. in an NCAA Super Regional as a typical conference weekend.

“Obviously, it’s not that,” LSU first baseman Tre’ Morgan said, “but we’re not going to make it more than it is, we’re going to take it one pitch at a time, one game at a time like we always do.”

But. . .

“This is loser go home,” Morgan said. “Losing is not an option.”

Especially in the case of six-time national champion LSU, two wins away from its 19th College World Series appearance and its first since 2017 when the Tigers were swept in two games by Florida in the national championship series.

All the pressure the next two or three days (or longer depending on expected weather delays) is on LSU, the national No. 5 seed with a 46-15 record (19-10, third in the SEC). The Tigers, who spent the first 12 weeks of the season ranked No. 1 in the country, beat Tulane and then Oregon State twice last weekend in the Baton Rouge Regional.

In April, LSU won its regular season series over Kentucky in Alex Box Stadium. The Tigers won the opener 16-6 in an eight-inning run-rule victory, UK won game two 13-10 and LSU edged the Wildcats 7-6 in the third and deciding game.

LSU has two of the three finalists – center fielder Dylan Crews and pitcher Paul Skenes – for the Golden Spikes Award which is college baseball’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. That duo is projected to become the first two players from the same school ever to be taken with the first two picks in July’s Major League draft.

The Tigers have three first-team All-Americans in Crews, Skenes and third baseman Tommy White.

LSU’s batting order features six players who have been in the program for three or more seasons including graduate students Cade Beloso and Gavin Dugas, redshirt junior Hayden Travinski and juniors Crews, Morgan and Jordan Thompson.

“It's amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit,” said LSU second-year head coach Jay Johnson, hired away from Arizona where he led the Wildcats to two CWS appearances (2016, 2021) in six seasons (not counting the canceled 2021 COVID year). “These guys are a team. And they're all about the togetherness part of it. They've done a wonderful job with that.”

Kentucky, a program that has never been to the College World Series, has played in just one Super Regional (losing in two games at Louisville in 2017).

The Wildcats (40-19, 16-14 tied for eighth in SEC), who lost six of their last seven SEC series this season, were blessed with a No. 12 NCAA tourney national seed because of having the second-best RPI in the country. As a regional host, UK had to come out of the losers’ bracket to beat Indiana twice to advance.

Kentucky second baseman Emilen Petre was an All-SEC second-team selection by league coaches. He’s the only UK player to earn postseason honors.

From 2018 to 2022, Kentucky was below .500 in the SEC and didn’t receive an NCAA tourney bid. The Wildcats were 12-18 in the SEC in 2021 and 2022 and head coach Nick Mingione’s job security rapidly dwindled.

He rolled the dice this season with a massive roster makeover using the transfer portal. UK has 16 transfers, 11 in their first season including seven using their last year of college eligibility to play at UK.

“This is a special team, a bunch of competitive people,” Mingione said earlier this week. “Their term is ‘dogs’ and I would agree. They’re a bunch of dogs and I love being their coach.”

UK returns to Baton Rouge brimming with confidence, not only from winning the Lexington Regional but for the way they played the Tigers in the regular season.

LSU won the opener despite the fact Skenes gave up seven hits and five runs while striking out 13 in six innings. The Tigers emerged victorious in the third game when third baseman White was hit by a pitch in the rear end with the bases full to force in the winning run.

“We walked out of there last time thinking we should have won two out of three,” Mingione told on3 writer Tyler Thompson earlier this week. “I want our guys to get in the ring with him (Skenes) and throw punches. “That’s what you’ve got to do beat the bully.”

Both teams have changed since the earlier series.

None of UK’s starting pitchers in the last several weeks started against LSU in April. Also, current LSU starters catcher Travinski and left fielder Josh Pearson were just pinch-hitters in the series and Tigers’ reliever Nate Ackenhausen wasn’t available because of a hamstring injury.

“A month and a half ago in baseball is an eternity,” Johnson said, “so it’s starting over from scratch. They (UK) played five games last weekend, so that was a benefit to us to see where all their guys are at.

“Their style of play hasn’t really changed very much. You’re facing a team that puts a lot of pressure on defense playing small ball. They have a really good identity, they know what it is and pitch to it.”

Kentucky, fourth in the SEC in batting average (.293) and last in home runs (51), thrives on station-to-station baseball. The Wildcats are first in the league in sacrifice bunts (55), tied for first in stolen bases (91) and tied for second in doubles (114).

“They put a lot of pressure on you,” LSU’s Morgan said. “They wait for you to mess up, then they jump on top.”

LSU’s offensive style is power baseball with virtually no bunts or steals. The Tigers are first in the SEC in eight offensive categories, including batting average (.314) runs (566), hits (644), RBIs (519) and home runs (126).

“We know (LSU) is a good team, but I think the biggest takeaway (from the regular season series vs. LSU) is we’re a good team too,” UK shortstop Grant Smith said earlier this week. “We could have won the series against them. All three games were competitive except for a couple of innings. We’re confident going into this series.”

No. 5 SEED LSU (46-15) vs. No. 12 SEED KENTUCKY (40-19)

WHERE: Alex Box Stadium, Baton Rouge

WHEN: Saturday: Game 1 2 p.m. (ESPN). Sunday: TBD, Monday (if necessary): TBD

LSU VS. KENTUCKY SERIES

LSU leads the all-time series with Kentucky, 57-32-1. The Tigers have won 14 of the past 20 SEC regular-season series against UK, including a 2-1 series victory earlier this season (April 13-15) in Baton Rouge. The teams have met on eight occasions over the past three seasons, and LSU has won five of the eight meetings. The Tigers won two of three regular-season games in Lexington in 2021, the teams split two games in the 2022 SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. and LSU won two of three regular-season games in April.

LSU IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

LSU is in the NCAA tournament for the 11th straight season and for the 35th time overall. The Tigers have the second-highest all-time NCAA tourney winning percentage (.703, 166-70). Last weekend, the Tigers won the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional, marking the 26th regional title in program history and the Tigers' 23rd title in a home regional.

LSU is participating in its 16th Super Regional (its 12th home Super Regional). LSU has won eight super regional titles, all at home: 2000, '03, '04, '08, '09, '13, '15, '17. The Tigers have an 18-16 record in NCAA Super Regional games, including a 17-9 mark in home Super Regional games.

STATS

LSU: No. 2 in the nation in shutouts pitched (9), on-base percentage (.438) and slugging percentage (.566), No. 3 in strikeouts pitched per nine innings (11.7) and home runs (126), No. 4 in hit-by-pitch (126) and scoring average (9.3 runs per game), No. 5 in runs scored (566), No. 7 in hits allowed per nine innings (7.73) and No. 8 in walks received (357).

KENTUCKY: No. 1 in stolen bases (91), stolen bases attempts (120), caught stealing (29), sacrifice bunts (55) and doubles (114), No. 2 in triples (15) and earned run average (4.17), No. 4 in batting average (.293). No. 10 in RBIs

STARS

LSU

CF DYLAN CREWS: Voted by league coaches as 2023 SEC Player of the Year, All-SEC first team, All-SEC Defensive team, Golden Spikes Award finalist, No. 2 in the nation in on-base percentage (.573) and in runs scored (87), No. 3 in batting average (.432) and No. 5 in walks (61), has 17 home runs, 14 doubles and 63 RBIs, and has increased his reached base streak to 65 straight games (all 61 games this season and the final four games of last season).

P PAUL SKENES: Voted by league coaches as 2023 SEC Pitcher of the Year and All-SEC first team, College Baseball Newspaper National Player of the Year, Golden Spikes Award finalist, No. 1 in the nation in strikeouts (179), strikeouts per nine innings (16.22); and WHIP (0.79), No.3 in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio (10.53), No. 4 in ERA (1.90) and No. 6 in hits allowed per nine innings (5.53).

3B TOMMY WHITE: Voted by league coaches All-SEC first team, No. 3 in the nation in RBI per game (1.66) and total RBI (93).

KENTUCKY

C DEVIN BURKES: Batting .298 with eight homers and 52 RBI, voted Most Outstanding Player of Lexington Regional where he hit .462 with seven RBIs, two homers and two RBIs.

P MASON MOORE: Threw 10 scoreless innings of relief in two NCAA tourney games, allowed just four hits, 1.95 ERA on the season with a 4-1 record and four saves, 49 strikeouts/298 walks.

CF JACKSON GRAY: Hitting a team-best .348 with 32 RBI, 15 doubles and 19 stolen bases.


Advertisement