5 takeaways from LSU’s walk-off win over Wake Forest
After a grueling pitchers duel, LSU’s Tommy White sent LSU to the College World Series final with a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th inning.
It put an end to a game where neither LSU or Wake Forest could conjure up anything on offense with two aces, Paul Skenes and Rhett Lowder, taking the mound.
Even when both programs went to the bullpens, runs remained sparse.
It was a Dylan Crews single that broke through for LSU and set up White for his game winning shot to left field.
Now, LSU advances to face Florida in the final. A rematch of the 2017 CWS final that saw the Gators win in two.
Here are five takeaways from LSU’s win over Wake Forest.
A fitting end to the game
LSU’s offense was ignited by Crews and White at the top all year. Even if there were struggles elsewhere, Jay Johnson counted on their production.
Thats why it’s so fitting that it was Crews and White crossing the plate to give LSU the win on Thursday night.
On a night when the pitching dominated and runs were hard to find, it was LSU’s stars showing up when it mattered most. LSU will need more of that if it hopes to win it all against Florida.
Bullpen exorcizes demons
The story all week for LSU has been the bullpen.
After struggling down the stretch, the pen has been lights out in Omaha. The dominance continued with three more shutout innings from Thatcher Hurd in this one.
This was LSU’s second shutout of the week. LSU’s pitching staff averaged just two runs allowed per game over the course of the week.
Johnson did a good job managing it too. Which puts LSU in a decent spot entering the final. Everyone but Skenes should be available on Saturday.
LSU's still taking the hard road
After losing its first one against Wake, we knew LSU faced an uphill battle to get here. That remains true now with Florida getting an off day while LSU was in a hard-fought 11-inning battle.
LSU made its own bed with this one and will feel it when its not able to start Skenes on Saturday night.
However, the aforementioned recent success of the bullpen should have LSU feeling better about its position now than it did last week, regardless of other circumstances.
Bottom of the lineup continues to struggle
This is now a trend.
LSU’s 5-9 spots in the lineup combined to go 7-50 over the last three games. And a good bit of that production can be contributed to No. 5 hitter Cade Beloso.
Because of LSU’s pitching the clutch hitting at the top of the lineup, this is yet to matter. They won’t get away with it forever though. Against Florida, someone near the bottom of the lineup needs to step up.
The current level of production is unsustainable for a team with championship hopes.
Tigers get rematch with Gators
LSU will face the same opponent it did last time it was here. The Florida Gators.
Florida swept LSU in 2017 to win it all. LSU didn’t make it back to the College World Series until this year.
LSU also took a similar path to face Florida in 2017. Fighting out of the losers bracket to win two rematches against the top team in the country.
There’s no holdover at all between that 2017 team and the 2023 team. Those players are long gone and so is the LSU coaching staff. But an All-SEC final still has a lot of juice.
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