Close games, jell-o shots and sunglasses -- those are the three biggest themes early on at the College World Series, and LSU benefited from the latter early on against Wake Forest.
LSU gained an advantage from a pair of outfield errors in the third inning against Wake Forest, the most damaging coming when a soft liner to left field cleared the glove of Adam Cecere, who had lost the ball in the glare of the setting sun in Omaha.
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Morgan was protecting the plate with two strikes as he sent what should be the final out into left field, ultimately motoring all the way to third base. Cecere had his sunglasses on top of his hat for the play, a decision that has already been a topic of conversation in Omaha. Tigers left-fielder Josh Pearson nearly misplayed a ball in LSU's win over Tennessee in the same scenario, and explained that with the shadows across home plate during the day's late game, the tinted lenses make it impossible to see the ball in the infield.
The issue, which was the case for Cecere, comes when the ball gets high enough to clear the second deck and come directly out of the sun. Pearson, however, was wearing his sunglasses when he made a similar play, running in on a ball to end the bottom of the third inning. Cecere stuck with the glasses on the hat strategy when he retook the field for the 4th inning.
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Tommy White scored on Morgan's triple, and was standing on second base due to a fielding error by Wake Forest centerfielder Tommy Hawke. Pearson had walked earlier in the inning, then stole second to set himself up in scoring position. The 2-0 lead was an early boost for Ty Floyd, who was using the infield shadows to his own advantage as he logged a Paul Skenes-esque 5 strikeouts through the first three innings.
LSU and Wake Forest were facing off in the winner's bracket for the privilege of a day off on Tuesday and two shots to land in the College World Series Championship Series. The loser will face off with Tennessee in the loser's bracket.
The Tigers defeated the Vols 6-3 on Saturday, while Wake Forest came from behind for a 3-2 win over Stanford. Tennessee took down Stanford 6-4 in the loser's bracket in Monday's early game.
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