College World Series 2017 scores and bracket: LSU upends Florida State out of Omaha

LSU and Florida State offered us perhaps the sickest college baseball game of the year over the weekend, with the Tigers eventually prevailing, 5-4, in a wild, error-filled affair. LSU then got thoroughly worked over by Oregon State on Monday, needing eight pitchers just to get out of a 13-1 loss. That assuredly got the Tigers worked up, and they came to fight on Wednesday, sending Florida State home in a 7-4 win.

The ‘Noles and Tigers met back up for an elimination game Wednesday, and LSU flamethrower Jared Poche took the hill for the Tigers on four days of rest. He and FSU starter Cole Sands combined to down each side in order in the first, then big bat Greg Deichmann broke through into right for a sliding two-base pop in the top of the second. Zach Watson followed that up with a rip into right center, and the Tigers were in business with men at the corners.

Watson didn’t stay put, though, as he stole second on a throw from Seminole catcher Cal Raleigh that nearly sailed into center field. On the very next pitch, third baseman Josh Smith slapped a line into right, scoring Deichmann, and suddenly the FSU bullpen came alive. Sands wouldn’t survive the inning, and Andrew Karp spelled him.

The Tigers’ dugout celebrated the game’s first run with crunches.

A Beau Jordan bunt toward first brought home Watson, but the Tigers were nowhere near done there. They’d eventually plate four more runners to take a 5-0 advantage in the top of the second.

But the Seminoles’ Drew Mendoza had a swift answer in the bottom of the frame, knocking out a two-out solo shot to left center, which has strikingly received a number of home runs this year, insofar as it runs historically deep. Even before this game had started, the field of eight as a whole had already equalled last year’s CWS home run total, so power hitting certainly remains in this field.

The top of the sixth saw a landmine explode at first base for one of the wildest fielding plays baseball can produce, and FSU plated another run in the bottom of the frame. 5-2, Tigers.

A pair of back-to-back homers to start the bottom of the ninth ended Poche’s night, who’d by then thrown eight innings for seven hits, three earned runs and four strikeouts. LSU would go on to hold the Seminoles to just two more runs, and that was it: LSU, 7-4, and on to face Oregon State again for rights to the CWS finals.

All times Eastern

Bracket group 1
No. 1 Oregon State, Cal State Fullerton, No. 4 LSU, Florida State

Game 1: Oregon State def. Cal State Fullerton, 6-5
Game 2: LSU def. Florida State, 8 p.m., 5-4

Game 3: Florida State elimin. Cal State Fullerton, 6-4
Game 4: Oregon State def. LSU, 13-1

Game 5: LSU elimin. Florida State, 7-4

Game 6: Oregon State vs. LSU, 3 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 7 (if Game 5 winner wins Game 7): Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner (ESPN)

Bracket group 2
No. 7 Louisville, Texas A&M, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 TCU

Game 1: Louisville def. Texas A&M, 8-4
Game 2: Florida def. TCU, 3-0

Game 3: TCU elimin. Texas A&M, 4-1
Game 4: Florida def. Louisville, 5-1

Game 5: TCU vs. Louisville, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)

Game 6: Florida vs. Game 5 winner, 8 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 7 (if Game 5 winner wins Game 7): Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner (ESPN)

Best-of-three series

Game 1: Monday, June 26, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 2: Tuesday, June 27, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 3*: Wednesday, June 28, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
*if necessary