LSU scored three runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to win 6-5 as Arkansas had two chances to get the final out and failed to do so and the Razorbacks season comes to an end, while LSU will go play for their 8th national championship.
Magic Moments: It looked like Arkansas was going to force a win or go home game on Thursday night after scoring two runs in the top of the ninth inning on a two-run single by Justin Thomas. It gave the Razorbacks a 5-3 lead.
But Arkansas made a series of miscues in the bottom of the ninth inning to allow LSU to storm back.
It started with one out and nobody on base. Derek Curiel hit a ground ball to the right side and Arkansas first baseman Reese Robinett elected to field the grounder, when he should have allowed the second baseman get it. Robinett’s throw to the pitcher covering first base was wild and Curiel went to second.
Ethan Frey walked.
And then the Razorbacks absolutely collapsed. LSU shortstop Stevan Milam hit what appeared to be a double play ball to Arkansas shortstop Wehiwa Aloy. For whatever reason, the future first round pick threw to third to get the lead runner, instead of trying to start a game ending 6-4-3 double play.
So two outs, runners at first and second and LSU catcher Luis Hernandez hits a liner right at the Arkansas left fielder Charles Davalan, who slips and the ball hits off his right shoulder towards the left field corner as he falls to the ground. Frey and Milam easily score to tie the game 5-5.
“I was looking for off-speed, because all game they were throwing me off-speed change-ups and he threw it in the middle and I drove it to left field,” Hernandez said.
Arkansas brought in right-handed pitcher Aiden Jimenez to face Jared Jones, who homered off Gabe Gaeckle earlier in the game.
The Razorbacks had the option of walking Jones with first base open, but they elected to pitch to the “Bear.”
Jimenez was not going to throw Jones a fastball. He threw Jones four sliders away and Jones hit a looping liner towards Arkansas second baseman Cam Kozeal. Kozeal leaped, the ball hit his glove and fell in shallow center field and Hernandez came racing around third base with the winning run.
“He’s a great pitcher, got to respect his slider and I was able to do enough to get it over the second-baseman’s head,” Jones said. “When I saw the ball hit the grass, I blacked out in the moment.”
While LSU celebrated in the outfield, several Arkansas players were in disbelief and crying, including Davalan who couldn’t make the catch for the final out of the game.
It was the third walk-off for the Tigers this season and Jones’ second walk-off hit. He also scored the winning run in the other walk-off win which was against Arkansas in the regular season.
“Kind of been here before, we’ve had a lot of these games through the season, whether we’ve had to fight back from being down or team ties it up late, we’ve just kind of stuck with it, no matter what,” Jones said. “There’s no clock in baseball, there’s 27 outs and with our offense it’s a tough ask to do. Happy Luis got the job done and I was happy to drive him in.
Nearly two years ago, LSU advanced to the championship series with a Tommy White walk-off two run home run in the 11th inning to beat Wake Forest 2-0.
Coach Jay Johnson said he felt something in his body that night that he never felt before when White homered. He said it was the greatest moment of his life and there’s now a moment to match White’s home run, Hernandez rounding around third base and scoring the winning run.
“What a game. Is ESPN Classics still around? They should play that game on loop for a week,” Johnson said.
Johnson told his team earlier this year that he would love to coach this team for the rest of his life. He’ll at least get a couple more games.
Comments