On a night when it felt like one big swing was going to be all it took, Tommy White was the man to deliver after 10.5 innings of futility, blasting a walkoff to left field, a 2-0 win and an unlikely charge from the loser's bracket to the title series.
LSU fell to Wake Forest on Monday, then delivered wins over Tennessee and two over the top-seeded Demon Deacons to set up a date with Florida.
White's home run came on the first pitch he saw from Camden Minacci, and it wasn't actually the pitch he was looking for.
“I was definitely going for heater. I thought a heater was coming," he said. "But I was very amped up and I saw a slider that was up and I could get my bat head to it, and that was about it.”
The pitcher's duel that was advertised between Skenes and Lowder couldn't have delivered any better. Skenes went 8 shutout innings with 2 hits, 1 walk and 9 strikeouts, while Wake Forest's ace notched 7 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits, 2 walks and striking out 6. The only real difference was the pitch count, with Lowder much more economical in his 7 innings with 88 pitches. Skenes threw 120.
"The best pitched college baseball game I have ever seen from both sides," Jay Johnson said. "Obviously what Paul did was spectacular. What Thatcher did was spectacular. You might see four pitchers that were on that mound tonight from both teams that will pitch in Major League Baseball All-Star Games. ... We just slayed a giant tonight and that was special."
Lowder was able to keep his pitch count low in large part because the Tigers struggled to get the ball off the ground. The Tigers went down in order over their first three innings, with 8 outs coming on ground balls.
The Tigers lived dangerously in the 8th inning, the last for Skenes, when a leadoff walk to Justin Johnson nearly turned into a run. Catcher Bennett Lee bunted him over to second, then a strikeout of Jack Winnay resulted instead in a first-and-third jam after the ball got to the backstop. In an identical situation to the Tigers on Monday, Wake went for the suicide squeeze as Marek Houston put the ball down the first base line. That's when Tre' Morgan, who was the player tagged out on a similarly incredible defensive play in the first matchup, charged and flipped the ball to Alex Milazzo, who slapped the tag on Johnson's hip just before he got to the plate.
Skenes then got Tommy Hawke to line out to Josh Pearson in left field, ending his outing after 8 innings with 2 hits and 9 strikeouts. That strikeout total leaves Skenes at 209 on the season, adding to the clearance of Ben McDonald's former SEC and LSU record, which he flew past with the final out of the second inning.
“What a play," Johnson said. "I mean, nobody has played better in this world series than Tre’. There hasn’t been a bigger plan in this world series than that bunt play.”
Thatcher Hurd came out of the bullpen first for LSU and continued their run of incredible relief pitching with a 1-2-3 top of the 9th inning, and allowed just one hit over the 10th and 11th to earn the victory.
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Wake Forest had its best early scoring chance when Justin Johnson put a ball into the right field gap for a one-out double. But as he's done all season, Skenes locked in and forced a groundout to third, then another to first to end the inning.
The Tigers had a similar chance in the bottom of the 6th, with Tommy White lacing a two-out double down the right field line. The red-hot Tre' Morgan came to the plate, and sent a ball screaming to third base, but it was within reach of Brock Wilken who made the snag to end the inning. LSU also had a runner at 2nd base with one out in the 8th and with superstar Dylan Crews at the plate. But it was Wake Forest's stellar bullpen that stood up again, with Michael Massey striking out Crews in a 3-2 count, then intentionally walking Tommy White before getting Morgan to fly out to center.
LSU and Wake Forest were matching up for the third time this week. The Demon Deacons took the first matchup 3-2 on Monday, forcing the Tigers to come out of the loser's bracket. LSU took down Tennessee 6-3, then Wake Forest 5-2 the following day to force the winner-take-all rematch.
With the win, LSU will now advance to the title series where they will match up with Florida. The Gators will be well rested, having won their half of the bracket over TCU on Wednesday.
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