LSU baseball sprinted out to an early 3-run lead in their College World Series opener, and Kade Anderson made sure that was more than enough with a masterclass performance as the Tigers took down Arkansas 4-1.
Anderson went 7 innings, allowing just 3 hits while striking out 7 on exactly 100 pitches. His lone blemish came in the 6th when Razorbacks 1st baseman Reese Robinett took an inside fastball over the right field wall.
Magic Moment: LSU scored three runs in the second inning and chased Arkansas starter Zach Root after just 38 pitches. Root was clearly unhappy with the decision, shaking his head repeatedly as he walked to the dugout.
Back-to-back walks to Luis Hernandez and Derek Curiel got the action started with one out. Daniel Dickinson laid a perfect bunt down the third base line and the bases were loaded.
Chris Stanfield drove in the first run with an RBI single to left field. Then, with the bases loaded again, Michael Braswell was hit by a pitch to plate another run. Josh Pearson drove in the third run with a fielder’s choice.
It wasn't exactly the type of explosive offense we saw in the Supers, but Charles Schwab Field is known for low scores and pitching duels. Manufacturing runs is often the name of the game out in Omaha.
Kade Anderson was awesome: Anderson was not happy after giving up season-high 7 runs in the heat in the Super Regional series against West Virginia. He was dialed in on Saturday night against one of the best offenses in the country.
The left-hander from Madisonville allowed just three hits, though one of those hits did leave the ballpark. It was the first game all season that the Razorbacks offense was held to 1 or fewer runs. Only three Arkansas batters reached second base all game.
Anderson struck out seven and is now the nation’s leader with strikeouts with 170.
The elite pitching performance was certainly needed, with Arkansas reliever Gabe Gaeckle allowing just one run over six innings while striking out 10.
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Bullpen also awesome: Chase Shores came in after Anderson threw 100 pitches. Shores lit up the radar gun with several pitches over 100 and even 101 miles per hour. He struck out two in his one inning of work.
Casan Evans earned his 7th save, allowing just one hit in a clean 9th inning. Turning to Evans was an aggressive move by Jay Johnson in Game 1, with the freshman right-hander a potential starting option as the games continue out in Omaha.
Up Next: Sixth seeded LSU will face 15th seeded UCLA in a winner’s bracket game on Monday night. The Bruins beat Murray State 6-4 on Saturday afternoon. UCLA is 48-16. They were co-regular season champs in the Big 10 and lost to Nebraska in the Big 10 Tournament.
That game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. first pitch, with pregame starting at 5:30 p.m. You can catch all the action on WWL and Audacy.
Arkansas will face Murray State in the losers bracket, with the winner of that game facing the loser between LSU and UCLA in an elimination game.
WWL Radio staff writer Jeff Nowak contributed to this report