LSU baseball: Tigers fall in first game of Super Regionals

In the opening game of the Baton Rouge Super Regional round of play the LSU baseball team found itself on the losing end of what became a very high scoring game, as it fell to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers 11-8.

The Chanticleers got things started in the top of the second when junior designated hitter G. K Young blasted his 17th home run over the left field fence to take a 1-0 lead.

LSU battled back as junior centerfielder Jake Fraley connected on a single and Kramer Robertson got aboard after being hit by a pitch, but the runs themselves were delivered once again from sophomore first baseman Greg Deichmann.

The three-run bomb was lifted to right field and electrified Alex Box Stadium as LSU took a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning.

But the Tigers would not maintain their lead over the Chanticleers for long.

Sophomore righty Alex Lange was unable to make the most of his night, going only went five innings while giving up seven hits, walking two batters and having six earned runs against him.

“Probably the biggest mistake he made was walking the leadoff batter in the sixth inning,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “Then we had a passed ball right after that. We kind of gave them some life and like good teams do they took advantage of it.”

Lange was able to rack up eight strikeouts against Coastal Carolina on Saturday night, but it was not enough to keep the high-powered Chanticleers from producing runs.

More from Death Valley Voice

First, Coastal Carolina battled their way back into the game in the fifth inning as sophomore second baseman Seth Lancaster, who went 4-for-4 on the night, scored from third base after a fielder’s choice from Billy Cooke to cut the deficit to one run.

LSU threatened in the fifth inning leading off with a double from sophomore catcher Michael Papierski who eventually came around to score after Antoine Duplantis hit an infield single off of pitcher Andrew Beckwith to take a 4-2 lead.

While recording hit hits in the fifth inning, the Tigers were unable to do anymore in the inning and left the bases loaded after Bryce Jordan popped out in foul territory to halt LSU’s momentum.

The sixth inning brought about the most runs scored in a single frame for the game, as Coastal Carolina was able to score 4 runs off of their two hits in order to take a two run lead.

The game really started to slip from the Tigers as the Chanticleers put up another three runs when they were helped by home runs from both seniors Connor Owings and Zach Remillard to take a 9-4 lead.

On Remillard’s home run, Coastal Carolina became the active leader in home runs for an NCAA ball club in 2016 with 94 total on the season.

“Probably the biggest mistake [Lange] made was walking the leadoff batter in the sixth inning.” – LSU coach Paul Mainieri

“They are a very good hitting team,” Mainieri said. “ We knew going in. They have got a lot of veteran players that have played a lot of college baseball. I think they beat him (Lange) on a few plays, pitches, and that’s the way baseball works sometimes.”

The Tigers came out threatening again in the seventh inning after Duplantis had an RBI single to score Cole Freeman from second base, but eventually left two men on and again were unable to capitalize with runners on the bases.

Expanding their four run lead Coastal Carolina’s shortstop junior Michael Paez came in to score from second after a single from Remillard in the eight inning.

Coastal Carolina struck again in the ninth inning after catcher Matt Beaird laid down a sacrifice bunt that scored Lancaster for the Chanticleers’ eleventh run of the night.

Making a strong effort to start the bottom of the ninth rally, Jake Fraley ripped off a triple to score the lead off man of the inning Cole Freeman and rejuvenate a possible comeback.

Fraley came in to score immediately following after a wild pitch was thrown by the Chanticleers’ closer Mike Morrison to make the score 11-7.

After a Robertson walk and Deichmann fly out it came down to pinch hitter Jordan Romero, who was tagged out at second after a mishandled pop fly from second baseman Seth Lancaster to record the final out of the game.

“We’ve lost the first game of the series before and come back and won two in a row, and that’s our mindset we’re going to have,” Mainieri said. “We’re going to go out tomorrow night and leave it all out there on the field, and hopefully we’ll be able to beat these guys.”

With the loss on Saturday night LSU will play an elimination game on Sunday night at 8 p.m. at Alex Box and will need to win two straight games in order to advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

Home/LSU Baseball