The way LSU made its way into the College World Series final was shocking in a lot of different ways, but one in particular stood out to former Tigers star and ESPN analyst Ben McDonald.
The Arkansas squad that made three major blunders to squander a two-run lead in the bottom of the 9th inning wasn't just a good defensive squad, they were statistically THE BEST defense in the nation over the course of the season.
"They were fielding .984 going into the game. Nobody in college baseball was better than them this year in fielding the baseball and making routine plays," McDonald said on WWL, "and last night, man, I don’t know what happened."
Hear the full interview with Ben McDonald in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
The winning rally started for LSU with one out when first baseman Reese Robinett fielded a ball rather than letting it go to the 2nd baseman, then threw it away to allow Derek Curiel to advance to second. The biggest blunder didn't go down as an error, when one of the best shortstops in the nation in Wehiwa Aloy went to third base for out No. 2 rather than start a seemingly routine double play to end the game.
A few pitches later it was Luis Hernandez scalding a ball to left field, where sophomore Charles Davalan -- who had not recorded an error across 65 games -- misplayed the ball as he appeared to slip. Both runs came in to score. The Tigers won the game in the next at-bat when Jared Jones poked a ball over the glove of the second baseman for the walk-off win.
"You’ve got to be lucky to win the College World Series," McDonald continued. "It’s so hard to do, so you've got to be talented and you’ve got to be lucky and certainly LSU was a little lucky, but they also created it. Don’t forget, it was a line drive that Hernandez hit to left field. It was a line drive that Jared Jones hit, and both of those balls were hit very hard. So it’s not like they were big-time errors made, it was just that LSU hit the ball hard and those plays weren’t made.”
The win meant the Tigers didn't have to battle through a winner-take-all rematch, and instead gets to rest up before a showdown with Coastal Carolina in the title series on Saturday.
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Reactions to LSU in the CWS so far
“You kind of got what you thought you would get, honestly. I mean, to be it’s the best two teams here at the College World Series. I think it’s a shame that, not only were they on the same side of the bracket, but they also had to match up in Game 1 of the College World Series, and so you felt like they were going to be close games. The very first game they were close, too.”
On Coastal Carolina
“Don’t forget, they beat Auburn at Auburn. Auburn is a team that swept LSU during the regular season at Auburn, and yet Coastal Carolina goes in there and beats then 2 out of 2 and wins both the games against them and they can really pitch. I mean, the strength of Coastal Carolina is their run prevention, you know, their defense is top 25 in the country and they have three starters that can stack up with anybody, you know, and they’re No. 2 in the entire country in ERA right now. They don’t beat themselves. They play clean defense. They don’t walk people as a staff and they come after you, so they’ve got three real dudes and enough offense and they’re a really good team. People forget, now, they’re the No. 13 national seed, so it wasn’t like they kind of flew under the radar this year. They’re not a cinderella kind of a team. They’re a really, really good team.”
On LSU's young pitching staff
“There is some strength there, and look, LSU brought in the No. 1 freshman class in the country and a big part of that, of course, was that pitching staff. You’re talking about freshmen like Casan Evans and Cooper Williams, that really had outstanding years. I mean, Casan Evans is having a phenomenal year. … It’s a strong, strong pitching staff that they have and those guys have played big parts in the success this year and they will continue to play big parts in their career at LSU, but you know Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson, you know, it’s 1A and 1B, it’s two real stars, like Coastal has. … But that’s where it all starts and if you can pitch and play defense, I’ve always said this and it’s true, if you can pitch and play defense, man, you’ve got a chance to win every ballgame and that’s what led LSU this year.”