Beavers lose in College Series
LSU snaps Oregon State’s 23-game winning streak. TCU also keeps Florida from advancing.
Alex Lange limited topseeded Oregon State to two hits over 71⁄3 innings, and Louisiana State ended the Beavers’ 23-game winning streak with a 3-1 victory on Friday to set up a winnertake-all Bracket 1 final at the College World Series in Omaha.
The teams will meet again Saturday, with the winner going to the best-ofthree finals beginning Monday.
The Tigers (51-18), who avenged a 13-1 loss to the Beavers (56-5) on Monday, became the first team to knock off the Beavers since USC on April 29.
They did all of their scoring against national wins leader Jake Thompson (14-1). Max Engelbrekt relieved in the seventh after Josh Smith hit Thompson’s first pitch of the inning into the right-field seats for a two-run lead.
Lange (10-5), the Chicago Cubs’ first-round draft pick, ran into trouble in the third when he walked three batters and gave up a double. Only one more batter advanced past first against him, and he retired eight in a row before he turned the game over to closer Zack Hess with one out in the eighth. Hess retired the last five batters, four by strikeout, for his fourth save.
LSU opened the second inning with a double and two singles and led 2-0 when Beau Jordan’s safetysqueeze bunt scored Zach Watson.
The Beavers got a run back in the third on a basesloaded walk. They should have had another run score earlier in the inning when, with runners on first and second, Steven Kwan sliced a ball down the left-field line that bounced off the wall and was ruled foul. TV replays indicated it was a fair ball.
Texas Christian 9, Florida 2: Evan Skoug hit a bases-clearing double, four Horned Frog pitchers combined on a five-hitter, and Texas Christian beat the Gators to force a second Bracket 2 final.
The teams will meet again Saturday night, with the winner advancing to the best-of-three finals starting Monday.
Skoug was two for 13 in the CWS when he came up in the sixth inning with two outs and the bases loaded. He lined reliever Frank Rubio’s 2-2 pitch into the rightcenter gap for an 8-2 lead.
Charles King (1-3) pitched 31⁄3 innings of onehit shutout relief after taking over for starter Mitchell Traver with two outs in the fourth.
Jackson Kowar (12-1) struck out seven of the first eight batters he faced on his way to a career-high 11 Ks, but the Horned Frogs (50-17) were able to get to him and he lost for the first time this season for Florida (49-19).