SATURDAY’S LATE GAME

LSU 5, FLORIDA STATE 4

OMAHA, Neb. — LSU Coach Paul Mainieri said his team wasn’t very sharp in its College World Series opener. It turned out the Tigers really didn’t need to be, not with the Florida State follies in the field.

The Tigers scored their first run Saturday night when Antoine Duplantis came around from first on a third strike wild pitch, and they tied it in the eighth when the Seminoles committed three errors on the same play.

Greg Deichmann followed with the goahead single in a 5-4 victory, LSU’s 17th in a row.

“It was a little bit of a bizarre game,” Mainieri said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a runner score from first base on a strikeout. I know you think we probably practice that play all the time, but we really don’t. I thought that our team didn’t really play that great, at least not up to our potential. Somehow we still found a way to win, which is really encouraging for us.”

Jared Poche’ (11-3) worked 22/3 shutout innings in a rare relief appearance and tied the LSU record with his 38th career victory. Tyler Holton (10-3), who pitched 71/3 innings, took the loss.

“We made mistakes. We pay for them,” said Florida State Coach Mike Martin, whose team is looking for its first national title in 22 appearances in Omaha. “We know it’s going to be a tough uphill battle. But I’ll tell you, and I mean this, I’ll take this bunch and go to battle.”