LSU baseball hasn't been the best team at the Hattiesburg regional for a majority of their two wins, but they've been the best team at the end of both.
The Tigers rallied from 7 runs down in the 8th inning of a win over Kennesaw State in the opener, and rallied from 4 runs down in the 9th inning against Southern Miss on Saturday. According to ESPN, it marked just the second time in the regional era (dating back to 1999) that a team had accomplished that feat.
Any maybe it's a Louisiana thing? The other school to accomplish it: UL in 2015.
"It was beautiful. I'd love to dissect that whole rally there," Johnson said. "I'm sure it's something we'll talk about for a long time."
That 7-run rally against Kennesaw State also marked the largest NCAA Tournament in LSU program history, with the Tigers pushing across 10 runs in the 14-11 win. Saturday night's comeback needed a 10th inning, with LSU plating 4 runs to tie it up, and Josh Pearson knocking in the winning run in the 10th inning. The Tigers were down to their final strike three separate times in the game.
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"All year we've been preaching 'there's no clock in baseball,' " shortstop Jordan Thompson said. "Even when there's two outs we know the inning's not over. ... We've been put in positions like that before and we just take it one pitch at a time. I don't think there's any negativity going in anybody's head when we get two outs."
LSU now needs just one more win to advance to the Super Regionals, and will play the winner of Southern Miss-Kennesaw State in the loser's bracket. Should LSU lose that game, they'd face off with that opponent again in a 3 p.m. winner-take-all on Monday.