OSU, FSU advance in CWS
OMAHA, Neb. — Bryce Fehmel limited LSU to two hits in eight innings, KJ Harrison hit the first College World Series grand slam at TD Ameritrade Park, and Oregon State beat LSU 13-1 for its 23rd straight win Monday night.
The top-seeded Beavers (564), who matched the school-record win streak they set earlier this season, took control of Bracket 1. They don’t play again until Friday and need one more win to advance to next week’s best-of-three finals.
LSU (49-18) had its 17-game win streak end with its most lopsided CWS loss since a 20-6 throttling by Cal State Fullerton in 1994. The Tigers face elimination when they play Florida State on Wednesday.
Starter Eric Walker (8-2) left the game in the third inning because of forearm tightness. Caleb Gilbert held the Beavers for a couple of innings, but they capitalized on a couple of LSU misplays to go up 3-0 in the fifth.
Harrison’s slam made it 8-0 in the sixth.
Florida State 6, Cal-State Fullerton 4 OMAHA, Neb. — Florida State converted three walks, two infield singles and a double into three runs to take the lead in the seventh inning, and the Seminoles knocked Cal State Fullerton out of the College World Series on Monday.
Fullerton (39-24) has gone two games and out in four straight CWS appearances and has lost nine games in a row in Omaha.
The Seminoles (46-22) went ahead against three Fullerton pitchers, with the tying and go-ahead runs scoring on backto-back walks by Blake Workman.
Chase Haney (3-2) worked two-thirds of an inning for the win, and Drew Carlton earned his seventh save after Fullerton put two runners on base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Pinch hitter Hank LoForte struck out looking to end the game.
It was another heart-wrenching loss for the Titans. They blew a 5-1 lead in the sixth inning against No. 1 national seed Oregon State on Saturday, and they failed to hold a 4-3 sixth-inning lead against the Seminoles.
The Titans had gone ahead in the bottom of the sixth on Dillon Persinger’s double and Timmy Richards’ two-run homer.
Florida State’s Taylor Walls reached on a tough play to shortstop leading off the seventh against Jack Pabich (1-3), and Dylan Busby doubled when left fielder Chris Prescott went back to catch the low fly, which dropped out of his glove when he ran into the fence.
Workman came on and intentionally walked Jackson Lueck, and then walked Quincy Nieporte and Cal Raleigh to give the Seminoles a one-run lead. The Seminoles made it 6-4 against Brett Conine when Richards couldn’t make a play on Matt Henderson’s grounder to short.