Ninth inning magic sends LSU Baseball to the SEC Semifinal

The LSU Baseball team entered Thursday Night's game with a massive opportunity as they seemingly already punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament while the top four seeds in the tournament lost their opening games. The Tigers sent Thatcher Hurd to the mound to open the game after getting gems from Gage Jump and Luke Holman.

The LSU Tigers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as Steve Milam drove in Josh Pearson. The lead didn't last long as South Carolina scored five runs in the third inning. The Tigers offense immediately answered the bell thanks to a four-run inning capped off by a massive two-run home run by Jake Brown.

The Tigers would take a 6-5 lead on a Jared Jones bomb before giving it right back the following inning. Tommy White would come up big like he has his whole career driving in Alex Milazzo to put the Tigers on top in the sixth. The bottom half of the inning, the wheels came off the wagon for LSU's bullpen as they allowed four runs giving South Carolina a 10-7 lead.

LSU would catch a massive break as South Carolina's first basemen misplayed a ground ball allowing the Tigers to keep their eighth inning alive while scoring two runs.

The bottom half of the LSU lineup gave the team some ninth-inning magic with back-to-back singles from Steve Milam and Jake Brown before Ashton Larson advanced the tying run to third. Alex Milazzo nearly hit one out but, he put tied the game while advancing the go-ahead run to third. Michael Braswell came through in the clutch putting the Tigers back in the lead. Tommy White nearly gave the Tigers some much-needed insurance runs but, South Carolina's center fielder made a spectacular catch at the wall. Fidel Ulloa closed the game out giving securing the Tigers a trip to the semifinals.

The offense came up big when needed

After two games where LSU allowed just one run, it was known that at some point the Tigers offense would need to pick up the staff. The offense stepped up every time the Tigers needed a rally as the Gamecocks offense was constantly threatening. Heading into the eighth and ninth inning after a demoralizing lead change the team could've fallen apart but, instead they completely flipped the game stacking great at-bats. The Tigers now get Friday off before a Saturday matchup with the winner of Kentucky and South Carolina's friday game.