By Phil Stanton
CBI Co-Founder/Editor
OMAHA, Neb. – There was more eighth-inning magic in Omaha for No. 1 Wake Forest.
Catcher Bennett Lee tagged out Tre’ Morgan at the plate in the top of the eighth to keep the game tied at 2-2 and had a single to left in the bottom of the frame that plated Danny Corona with the go-ahead run as the Demon Deacons edged No. 5 LSU 3-2 on Monday evening, the sixth one-run game out of eight at the 2023 College World Series.
“It was a really great baseball game,” WFU head coach Tom Walter said. “Two really good college baseball teams battling it out. And a lot of star power in that game, and it didn’t disappoint.”
WFU (54-10) advanced to the bracket finals on Wednesday, June 21 at 6 p.m. CT. The Tigers (49-16) will face Tennessee in an elimination game on Tuesday, June 20 at 6 p.m.
With the score knotted at 2-2 after seven, Morgan led off the top of the eighth with a double into the right field corner. Hayden Travinski reached on an error, moving Morgan to third. Cade Beloso hit a bouncer to third. Morgan broke for home and third baseman Brock Wilken double clutched and threw home. Lee put the tag on a sliding Morgan and he was called out.
“We were in red situation so go on contact,” Morgan said. “As soon as the ball was hit, I took off. I knew he would have an awkward throw, so I tried to get a bit over to get in the way but he made a great play.”
The play was reviewed and confirmed.
“I think it starts with the mound visit we had,” Lee said. “Coach Walter told me to tell Brock to maybe get the out at home if we have it. So that was already in our heads coming into it. And then Beloso hits a little squibber, and that was actually a really good play by Brock. He said the ball was literally still spinning in his glove when he went to throw it. So just an unbelievable play to get the ball to me. I’ve done millions of picks in my life and I just took over.”
Camden Minacci came in from the bullpen with Tigers on first and second. He coaxed Gavin Dugas to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
“The pitch plan was to throw a first-pitch slider and then a heater in,” Minacci said. “That what we did, just executed our pitch plan, got the guy to roll over, turned a double play.”
Corona had a two-run single in the eighth in the Deacons’ 3-2 win over Stanford on Saturday in their first-round CWS victory. With one away in the bottom of the eighth against the Tigers, Corona swung and missed twice before lining a double into the right field corner.
Lee (2 for 3) battled and lined a base hit into left to drive in Corona to give WFU a 3-2 edge.
Minacci (1-1) struck out the first two batters in the ninth and got a come-backer to end the contest.
LSU started the scoring in the top of the third. Josh Pearson drew a one-out walk and went to second on a wild pitch. With two away, Tommy White (2 for 4) singled to center to knock in Pearson with the game’s first run. Morgan (2 for 4) lined a ball to left that Adam Cecere lost in the sun for a triple as White scored to make it 2-0.
The Deacons tied it in the sixth. Tommy Hawke, Pierce Bennett and Nick Kurtz drew walks to load the bases. Wilken had a single up the middle to bring home Hawke and make it 2-1. Justin Johnson hit into a double play and Bennett touched home to create a 2-2 deadlock.
Josh Hartle was the starter for WFU and fanned nine in 6.0 innings with four hits, four walks and two runs. He raised his season strikeout total to 140, a program record.
“Really proud of Josh Hartle and the way he battled,” Walter said. “We got down 2-0 but he settled in and got us into the sixth inning. He kept making pitches when it mattered and kept the score where it was, gave our offense the time to get going.”
Cole Roland took the mound in the seventh for the Deacons. He started with a pair of strikeouts before surrendering a walk to Dylan Crews. Michael Massey entered and got a groundout to end the seventh. Massey faced three hitters in the eighth before Minacci took over.
“Once again,” Walter said, “for the second game in a row, our story was our bullpen. Our bullpen locked it down.”
Ty Floyd struck out 10 in the first five frames for the Tigers with two hits, four walks and two runs. Thatcher Hurd (6-3) worked the final three innings with three hits, one run, three walks and five strikeouts.
“Great college baseball game,” LSU head coach Jay Johnson said. “Hats off to the pitching on both sides. They got a clutch hit there at the end and we did not. We’ll get ready to go tomorrow.”
Notes
Wake Forest is now 7-0 in this year’s NCAA Tournament, the only remaining undefeated team. No team has gone undefeated in the NCAA Tournament since UCLA in 2013.
WFU is the fifth No. 1 national seed to win its first two games in the College World Series and first since Oregon State in 2017. Three of the previous four reached the championship game but only Miami in 1999 won the title.
This is the first time since seeding began in 1999 that the No. 1 and No. 2 national seeds both started 2-0 in the CWS.
WFU was 3-1 in one-run games during the regular season and 3-0 in the postseason, including 2-0 at the CWS.