Shocker: LSU ousts No. 1 Oregon State

OMAHA, Neb. — Nothing LSU encounters in the College World Series championship series will be any more daunting than the task the Tigers had to complete to get there. The Tigers had to beat an Oregon State team that owned the most formidable record of any team in four decades, and they had to do it twice.

Caleb Gilbert held the No. 1 national seed Beavers to two hits in 71⁄3 innings, Michael Papierski homered from both sides of the plate and LSU won 6-1 on Saturday, a day after beating Oregon State 3-1.

For Oregon State “to lose four games the entire season, and we beat them two days in a row, it’s hard to predict those things to happen, but that’s why you have to play the games,” Tigers coach Paul Mainieri said. “Our kids embraced the challenge.”

The Tigers (52-18) won their third straight elimination game and will play Florida in the bestof-three finals.

The Beavers (56-6) had two 23-game winning streaks and finished the season with a .903 winning percentage — the best since Texas’ mark of .908 in 1982.

“It’s a tough day when you’ve had such a great year,” Beavers head coach Pat Casey said. “Now is not the time to really think about that or talk about it, but I know there will be a time when they get to sit back and reflect and realize what they accomplished.”

Gilbert allowed only an infield single and walk before Michael Gretler homered in the seventh. Gilbert struck out a career-high seven in his longest outing in his two seasons at LSU.

This marks the 18th year in a row that the No. 1 national seed won’t win the championship. Miami in 1999 is the only No. 1 seed to go all the way. That was the first year of the current tournament format.

Florida 3, TCU 0: Alex Faedo pitched three-hit ball for 71⁄3 innings in a second straight strong performance against TCU, and the Gators (50-19) moved to the finals.

TCU (50-18) had beaten Florida 9-2 on Friday to force the winner-take-all bracket final and the teams’ third meeting in a week.

Faedo (9-2) struck out 11, just as he did last Sunday in a 3-0 win over the Horned Frogs. Michael Byrne finished for his 18th save.

The Gators, the No. 3 seed nationally, had struggled on offense since they arrived in Omaha, but with Faedo holding down the Frogs, they were able to muster enough against Jared Janczak (9-2).