Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com (photo courtesy of Coastal Carolina media relations)
BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU first baseman Greg Deichmann has been on a tear as of the start of the postseason. He is 11 for 19 in five postseason games with four home runs and 13 RBI, including a towering blast in the fourth inning of Saturday’s Baton Rouge Super Regional opener against Coastal Carolina. The three-run shot marked his team-leading 11th home run of the season.
But Deichmann’s power is child’s play to the Chanticleers as a whole. They have four hitters in the middle of their order with at least 15 home runs. And, as of the top of the seventh inning Saturday night, they lead the nation in that department with 94 dingers.
Coastal Carolina rallied from a 3-1 deficit with a four-run sixth and a three-run seventh on its way to 11-8 victory at Alex Box Stadium. The win, which took four hours and 24 minutes and ended at 12:30 a.m. Sunday, puts the Chanticleers in the driver’s seat for a trip to the College World Series. Game 2 will be played at 8 p.m. Sunday.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Coastal Carolina coach Gary Gilmore said. “It lasted a long time. I’m proud of my kids. I thought they competed all night long against one of the best starters in the country. I’m very proud of them.”
The Chanticleers hit three home runs, including back-to-back jacks by Connor Owings and Zach Remillard in the seventh inning. The two-run shot by Owings and the solo homer by Remillard stretch the Chanticleers stretched the lead to 9-4, but Coastal Carolina regained control in the sixth inning, chasing Tiger ace Alex Lange from the game.
Leading 4-2, Lange led off the top of the sixth by walking leadoff hitter Anthony Marks. Marks then advanced to second base on a wild pitch and scored on Michael Paez’s RBI single. After Owings doubled, the game-tying run scored on Lange’s third-strike wild pitch.
“I think Alex will tell you,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri, “that probably the biggest mistake he made was walking the leadoff batter in the sixth inning. And then we had the passed ball right after that, and we kind of gave them some life. Like good teams do, they took advantage of it.”
Lange conceded an RBI single to Seth Lancaster before he was pulled for Parker Bugg, and the Chanticleers added a run on a sacrifice fly.
“Nothing really much to say,” Lange said. “It hurts to let your teammates down like that. That’s what sucks. It’s just disappointing.”
Aside from G.K. Young’s solo homer run in the second inning, Lange displayed early dominance, striking out seven through his first five innings while holding Costal Carolina to two runs. The Tigers relievers behind Lange couldn’t hold the rope against the potent Chanticleer lineup, as Coastal Carolina plated five runs off five hits against the LSU bullpen.
Remillard and Seth Lancaster combined seven of Coastal Carolina’s 12 hits.
“First five [innings], [Lange] had really good command,” Owings said. “He was dumping his breaking ball in for a strike at will and they had it down in the dirt later to get you to chase and he was moving his fastball around to both sides of plate. And it’s really hard to hit against a guy like that because you have to divide the plate up. And if he didn’t throw what you’re looking for, you’ve got to tip your cap.”
The Chanticleers didn’t receive a long outing from starter Andrew Beckwith, as he gave up four runs off seven hits 4.1 innings. However, the relief combination of righthanders Bobby Holmes and Mike Morrison, a first team All-American, kept the Tigers mostly at bay.
LSU’s best chance to cut into the Chanticleers’ lead came in the seventh, trailing 9-5. After plating one run on Antoine Duplantis’ RBI single, the Tigers had runners on first and second with no outs. But Morrison replaced Holmes, and he induced a force out and consecutive fly outs to escape the jam. LSU also left the bases loaded in the fifth and was 0 for 8 with two outs.
“It’s those moments that when you’re able to get out and keep it close,” Gilmore said. “That’s what I kind of felt like all game long, if we could just hang around, hang around and hopefully put a swing or two on the ball. I’m sure [people] didn’t expect it to be what it ended up being on either side. I thought it was going to be way more of a 3-2, 4-3-type game. Both teams scored more runs than they probably expected to.”
“WAS IT FAIR?”
In the top of the fifth inning, Lancaster ripped Lange’s 1-2 offering down the right-field line to lead off the frame.
The ball landed in fair territory and then bounded toward the bullpen bench in foul territory, where two Tigers bat girls sat. As Duplantis raced toward the ball during in a 3-1 game, one of the bat girls innocently jumped up to block the ball, picked it up and tossed it to a fan in the bleachers. With the first base umpire not signaling a fair or foul ball, the bat girl assumed it was foul.
A long umpires’ meeting ensued, and the play was eventually reviewed. Lancaster was given a ground-rule double, but he later scored on Billy Cooke’s RBI groundout.
“I’m just glad I got a bat on it because it was a pretty good pitch,” Lancaster said. “It landed right on the line…I came around second, looking at [Gilmore], and he didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t wheeling me or stopping me, so I just kept running. It worked out.”
The bullpen benches had been a topic of conversation in last weekend’s Baton Rouge Regional. Deichmann’s inside-the-park grand slam against Rice in Game 4 of the regional was a result of a ball that skipped under the bench. Instead of throwing up his hands to signal a dead ball, the Rice right fielder attempt to retrieve the ball.
The ball becomes playable when a fielder attempts to reach for a ball lodged under the bullpen bench, according to the Alex Box Stadium ground rules.
During a routine ground rule meeting Mainieri usually holds before games, Gilmore asked Mainieri to wall both bullpen benches up. Mainieri obliged, and the front of each had been boarded up before the start of Saturday’s game.
PITCHING MATCHUP
Mainieri is still waiting to see how lefthander Jared Poche’ feels before officially naming his starter for Game 2. Gilmore has also not officially named a starter, but it likely will be righthander Alex Cunningham.
Poche’ (9-4, 3.26 ERA) will be coming off four days of rest for the second time in as many appearances, having thrown six innings of shutout relief in the Tigers’ regional-clinching victory against Rice on Tuesday. After throwing 92 pitches in a 7-1 regional-opening victory against Utah Valley, Poche’ retired 18 of the 19 Owls hitters he faced, conceding just one hit on 69 pitches.
Gilmore initially named Cunningham (9-3, 3.66 ERA) his Game 1 starter but instead handed the ball to Beckwith. Beckwith, who started the first game of the Regional, threw two innings of relief prior to the Raleigh regional finale being suspended until Tuesday.
Cunningham leads the team with 90 strikeouts in 14 starts and 98.1 innings pitched. He recorded six strikeouts and held North Carolina State scoreless through 5.1 innings in a 4-0 win in Game 4 of the regional.
DRAFTEES
LSU and Coastal Carolina combined to have 14 players taken in the Major League Baseball draft, which concluded Saturday.
Eight current Tigers were, highlighted by center fielder Jake Fraley, who was a second-round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays. All other LSU selections came in the 14th round or later, including Poche’ to the San Diego Padres at pick No. 414.
The Chanticleers had six current players taken, led by shortstop Michael Paez, who was fourth-round selection of New York Mets. Remillard, Morrison, Cunningham, Young and Owings also were selected.
The Tigers also had six signees taken, including right-hand pitcher Riley Pint, who was the Colorado Rockies’ No. 4 overall pick. Coastal Carolina had two signees chosen.