New Orleans — College baseball tournaments rolled-on Friday, where LSU, Southeastern Louisiana and Tulane were all playing in must-win games.
LSU made sure they didn’t have another 17 inning game with Mississippi State in this second meeting with the Bulldogs in the SEC Baseball Tournament, cruising to the 12-2 mercy rule win in 7 innings to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. After two scoreless innings, the Tigers put-up 5 runs in the 3rd and 7 more in the 4th, to take a commanding 12-2 lead through 4 innings and never let Mississippi State get any closer. Clay Moffitt got the start and gave-up 2 runs on one hit in 2 and a third. Aaron George (3-1) came-in after that and picked-up the win in two and two-thirds scoreless, and then Chase Costello threw the final two scoreless innings to close it out. Five Tigers finished with multiple hits, with Chris Reid going 2-4 with 2 RBI and two runs scored. LSU (37-23) now advances to face top-seeded Vanderbilt Saturday afternoon after the first semifinal game at 12:00 p.m. (CT) between Georgia and Ole Miss. The winners from those two games will face each other in Sunday’s championship game at 2:00 p.m. (CT).
Tulane was not as fortunate in their elimination game Friday evening, falling to UCF 6-2 and being knocked-out of the American Athletic Conference Tournament. The 3rd-seeded Green Wave trailed from the first inning and couldn’t close the gap on the 6th-seeded Knights, who Tulane had defeated in their tournament opener on Tuesday. Green Wave starter, Chase Solesky was tagged with the loss, going 6 innings and giving-up 4 runs on 6 hits and striking-out 4 in the effort. Offensively for Tulane (32-26), Kody Hoese finished 2-4 with a double and an RBI, and Sal Gozzo went 2-3 with a double and 2 runs scored.
In the Southland Conference Tournament, Southeastern had to play two games Friday and won them both to live to play another day. The 3rd-seeded Lions first defeated Stephen F. Austin in their 9:00 a.m. game 4-3, and then went-on to beat Central Arkansas 9-3 in their 4:00 p.m. game. Bryce Tassin (5-2) got the win for the Lions in 3 innings of relief, giving-up no runs and just 2 hits and striking out a pair. Bryce Steckler led the way at the plate for SLU, going 2-4 with 3 RBI and the only home run of the game. Next-up for Southeastern (33-26) is a Saturday re-match with Central Arkansas, with the winner advancing to the conference championship and the loser going home.