LSU beats Oregon State 3-1 at CWS, ending 23-game win streak
Tigers, Beavers play today in elimination game to enter championship
OMAHA, Neb. — With a wave of his cap to the LSU fans, Alex Lange disappeared into the dugout after what very well could have been his last outing as a collegian.
It was one of his best, and most timely.
The Chicago Cubs’ firstround draft pick limited top-seeded Oregon State to two hits over 7 1/3 innings in a performance Friday that carried the Tigers to a 3-1 victory and ended the Beavers’ 23-game winning streak.
It also set up a winnertake-all Bracket 1 final at the College World Series on Saturday, with the winner going to the best-of-three finals beginning Monday.
Lange (10-5) won a CWS elimination game for the second time in his career, and he said his experience pitching so many important games at home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, prepared him.
“I had a sense of calmness about me this morning when I woke up, and getting to the yard. I was expecting to be amped up and juiced up,” Lange said. “I was calm and relaxed. I think that goes back to pitching in Alex Box Stadium in front of 12,000 people every Friday night. It wasn’t a big shocker or big difference. This is why I came to LSU, to play in these big games. And keeping your team in the ballgame and keeping the season alive is pretty awesome.”
The Tigers (51-18) avenged a 13-1 loss to the Beavers (56-5) on Monday and became the first team to knock them off since Southern California on April 29.
They did all of their scoring against national wins leader Jake Thompson (141). Max Engelbrekt relieved in the seventh after Josh Smith hit Thompson’s first pitch of the inning into the right-field seats for a tworun lead.
Oregon State was still stinging after the game from a call in the third 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.