Beavers fall to LSU; rubber match on Saturday
After one of their best offensive performances of the season on Monday, the Beavers had one of their worst on Saturday as they can get anything going against the Tigers.
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The game
There is a saying that goes "All good things must come to an end".
The Beavers second 23 game win streak of the season came to an end against LSU on Friday.
It’s was obvious early that LSU (51-18) was determined to prove to the Beavers and college baseball world that their blunder on Monday night was merely a fluke.
They did that in a very convincing fashion as they defeated OSU 3-1 in front of a largely purple and gold clad crowd at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha.
Junior pitcher Alex Lange was the straw that stirred the LSU Tigers on Saturday. The ace of the pitching staff was determined to keep his team alive and because of his gutty performance against the Beavers, the Tigers live to play the Beavers one more time.
LSU jumped on OSU starter Jake Thompson right away, as they scored two runs in the top of the second by way of a leadoff double, two singles, and a fielders choice. Once Lange had a lead to work with, he was able to stymie OSU hitters all night long.
In my opinion, the game completely changed in the bottom of the 3rd. With one out and runners on 1st and 2nd, Steven Kwan laced a ball into the left-field corner that bounced off the yellow fair line on the wall. The ball was called foul, and Kwan later popped up for the 2nd out. Pat Casey did not choose to have the umpires review the play, and it could have changed the entire game for the Beavers as it would have been ruled a ground rule double, scoring one and putting runners at 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. However, it wasn’t reviewed and it will go down as one of the most infamous plays in CWS history.
OSU (56-5) got on the board later the 3rd, when Lange walked Trevor Larnach with the bases loaded to score Michael Gretler. Unfortunately for the Beavers, that was the only time they would see someone score.
The Tigers added a little more insurance in the 7th as Josh Smith smacked a solo shot over the right field bullpen to make the score 3-1, which would be the final.
Lange earned the win to improve to 10-5 on the year. He was dynamite from the start for the Tigers mixing his fastball and offspeed pitches with ease to keep all of the OSU hitters off-balance all night. He pitched 7 ⅓ innings and allowed just one run and two hits while striking out eight batters. Lange handed off to Zack Hess who finished the game off for the Tigers. Lange and Hess combined to shut the door on the Beavers towards the end of the game as they retired the last 13 OSU batters.
Thompson suffered his first loss of the season on Friday (14-1), but looked better on Saturday against LSU then he did against Cal State Fullerton last week. However, he was still ineffective at times, and couldn't locate some of his pitches. Thompson allowed six hits and three runs while working 6 ⅔ innings, but wasn’t good enough. Lange was throwing a gem, and Thompson couldn’t match it stride for stride. Thompson handed it off to Max Engelbrekt who finished the game for the Beavers, allowing just one hit.
Up next
The Beavers have another matchup with the No. 4 seeded Tigers tomorrow at 12:00 p.m.
Even though the Beavers lost, they are still in a very good position to succeed based on the fact that they have played one less game than the Tigers.
LSU has played 4 games compared to OSU’s three, and now the Tigers have used their best pitchers to fight back through the loser’s bracket. Jared Poché (their Saturday guy) pitched Wednesday night, and Alex Lange (their ace) pitched Friday against OSU. Their typical Sunday guy Eric Walker who pitched against OSU on Monday, will most likely not pitch again in the CWS because of arm tightness.
The ESPN announcers in the CWS mentioned that Caleb Gilbert would most likely be getting the start for the Tigers on Saturday. The same logic suggests that the Beavers will most likely be going with Drew Rasmussen against LSU. The advantage clearly favors the Beavers with Raz on the mound compared to Gilbert. He is arguably OSU’s most polished arm and was their highest drafted arm as he went to the Rays in the first round last week. Gilbert on the other hand is no slouch either for LSU. He is a very solid reliever and has done good things for the Tigers out of the ‘pen this season and was won LSU several big games.
Upcoming pitching matchup
Here is how the pitching numbers shake out for Saturday's matchup.
Drew Rasmussen: 0.79 ERA, 3-0 W-L, 22.2 IP, 24 K, 5 BB, .193 opp avg
vs.
Caleb Gilbert: 2.29 ERA, 6-1 W-L, 51 IP, 60 K, 11 BB, .203 opp avg
Prediction
Even though the Beavers dropped Friday’s game to LSU, I still think the advantage is on the side of the orange and black. Sure, the Tigers won Friday’s game, sure they pitched extremely well, but there were several ways that the Beavers helped LSU win. OSU’s 1-5 hitters combined for 0 hits on Friday. Simply put, Kwan, Nick Madrigal, Larnach, KJ Harrison and Jack Anderson won’t go hitless tomorrow. A good amount of credit has to go to Lange and Hess for putting OSU hitters in a hole all night long.
Bottom line, I don’t see OSU’s offense going that stagnant again. The Beavers are too good of a team to have two offensive blunders in a row and they have the advantage with Rasmussen on the mound. OSU clinches a spot to the championship series with a 5-2 win against LSU on Saturday.
Beavers win 5-2