Central Connecticut intentionally walked Dylan Crews the inning before and escaped a potential walk-off by LSU baseball, but when Crews saw Giovanni DiGiacomo step into the batter's box with the bases loaded in the 10th, he knew a celebration was coming up next.
"Gio had a few tough ABs in the beginning, but I knew as soon as he got up the game was over," Crews said. "Because, I mean, he was just due."
The Tigers centerfielder stepped into the batter's box with the bases loaded in the 10th inning having started 0-4. It was the second time in as many days he'd walked up to the plate with the bases loaded and a chance to make an impact. The opportunity against Gonzaga resulted in a drive to deep center that was caught on the run in a game the Tigers were shut out 3-0.
On Saturday in a game that had been locked at 5-5 since the third inning, he punched a ball through to secure the 6-5 victory for the Tigers.
It was the second time DiGiacomo stepped in against Central's Jake Neuman, the first time quickly grounding out.
"Seeing him the at-bat before and only seeing one pitch, I didn't have an idea of his whole arsenal," DiGiacomo said. "It's kind of one thing to watch from the side and then go up there and see him. So I just was trying to get a hold of one, trying to get one out of the infield in that situation. Bases loaded, one out.
"Just trying to get the ball out of the infield and make sure we can get that guy in to score, and I was fortunate enough to get that one pitch and stay through it enough and I'm happy that I got that opportunity."
LSU coach Paul Mainieri said, much like Crews, he trusted DiGiacomo to deliver -- even giving him the green light to swing ahead in the count 2-0. DiGiacomo fouled off four pitches before getting his pitch and ending the game
"I got 2-0 right away and from that moment I kind of had a little more confidence knowing I'd be in a hitter's count," DiGiacomo said. "After all the work I've put in ... kind of trusting myself to help get the job done for us."
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The ball wasn't hit hard, but cleared the pitcher's mound and found the gap between the 2nd baseman and shortstop to score Gavin Dugas from 3rd -- who had reached based earlier on a hit by pitch.
DiGiacomo, who misplayed a fly ball in center field to help spark a 5-run second inning for the Blue Devils, was immediately swarmed on the field by ecstatic Tigers. The win meant Paul Mainieri's LSU career would last at least one more day, but what was going through his mind: Tomorrow's task.
"I think that was the biggest thing going through my mind," he said, "is that we were going to get to play tomorrow. I think that's going to be on a lot of our minds. It's just each game, we can't look into the future too far and we can't worry about what happened yesterday or today. We've got to take each game as it comes and just try to win them and do everything that we can."
The Tigers will face the loser of Saturday night's winner's bracket matchup between Oregon and Gonzaga. Should the Tigers win that game, they'd be back in action at 9 p.m. to face the winner of that game. Should they win both, they'd face off again in the if-necessary game for the regional crown on Monday.
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