Seminoles’ meltdown in field helps LSU post 5-4 win in CWS
Florida State’s Dylan Busby (28) is greeted at the dugout by Taylor Walls (10) after hitting a two-run home run in the first inning of an NCAA men’s College World Series baseball game against LSU in Omaha, Neb., Saturday, June 17, 2017. (Nati Harnik/Associated Press)
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 all the way 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 go-ahead 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 2 2/3 shutout innings in a rare relief appearance and tied the LSU record with his 38th career win. Tyler Holton (10-3), who pitched a workmanlike 7 1/3 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.”
LSU (49-7) was down 4-3 when a bizarre sequence turned the game in the eighth. Cole Freeman reached on a base hit, and Duplantis singled past diving…