BATON ROUGE, La. — Ethan Frey had an exceptional night with four hits and four RBIs, and Luis Hernandez smashed two solo home runs as LSU staged a comeback to defeat Little Rock 10-6, winning the Baton Rouge Regional on Monday night.
Little Rock aimed to make history by becoming the first team with a losing record ever to reach a super regional. Despite falling short, they set a milestone by reaching the regional final with a losing record. This opportunity came after they secured a 10-4 victory over the sixth-seeded Tigers on Sunday night.
Now, LSU, boasting a 46-15 record, is set to host West Virginia next weekend. West Virginia emerged victoriously in the Clemson Regional and comes into the competition as an unseeded contender.
Relief pitcher Casan Evans played a crucial role in the game, stepping in during the second inning when Little Rock, holding a 27-34 record, had taken a 5-1 lead. Remarkably, Evans pitched for six innings, reaching a personal best of 109 pitches and an impressive 12 strikeouts, including an incredible streak of nine consecutive strikeouts.
Evans’ stellar performance on the mound was instrumental in enabling the Tigers to make their comeback.
Frey opened the game’s scoring with a solo homer in the first and then boosted LSU in the fourth inning with a crucial two-out, three-run double, closing the gap to 5-4. Hernandez stepped up with home runs in the sixth and eighth innings, pushing LSU ahead to a 7-5 lead.
Although Evans encountered a challenging seventh inning by walking the bases loaded, he managed to prevent any runs. He did allow a couple of singles in the eighth before leaving the game, and Alex Seguine of the Trojans brought the score closer with an RBI single, narrowing it to a one-run game.
In the final stretch, Jared Jones hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning, and Hernandez added an RBI single, pushing the Tigers again to extend and conclude the game at 10-6.