Cal State Fullerton’s season comes to an end after suffering a 5-3 loss to LSU in an elimination game at the College World Series in front of 18,751 fans at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.
The Titans took an early 3-0 lead in the first inning. Tyler Stieb started the rally with a single to center field and continued when David Olmedo-Barrera knocked an RBI-triple to center field. Olemdo-Barrera would reach home off a Jerrod Bravo single and Tanner Pinkston would advance Bravo to third before a squeeze play would allow him to score the third run of the inning. This marked the first time in 17 starts Alex Lange gave up more than one run in the first inning.
After a scoreless second inning, the Tigers' bats got hot in the third inning as they strung together enough hits to score four runs to take a one-run lead. Alex Berman and Jake Fraley opened with back-to-back singles to left field and Kade Scivicque would mirror their performances with a RBI-single of his own to center field. Connor Seabold would then strike out Connor Hale before giving up the fourth single of the inning to Chris Sciambra, who would drive home Fraley.
That would be the last pitch for Seabold (2.1IP, 7H, 4ER, 0BB, 2K) as Miles Chambers entered the game in relief. LSU registered two more hits against Chambers to lift the Tigers to a 4-3 lead before ending the inning.
“I think they jumped on some pitches”, commented Seabold. “I didn’t have my best stuff today. I was having trouble finding the strike zone. Couldn't get out pitches down in the zone. They were taking advantage of the mistakes I made and they did a good job of that.”
LSU added an insurance run in the seventh inning thanks to a Danny Zardon sacrifice fly that brought home Kade Scivicque, who opened the inning with a double to center field.
Lange, who rebounded from an uncharacteristic start, wound up pitching a complete game, allowing just six hits and three earned runs while striking out 10 to maintain a perfect 12-0 mark on the season. The SEC Freshman of the Year faced just 27 batters to record the final 24 outs and allowed just two hits over that span.
“We got beat,” stated Head Coach Rick Vanderhook. “That's the way I look at it. We didn't lose. We got beat. We came out and put a little charge on them. And then kind of died offensively. And they had one inning where they did about the same thing but extended a little longer. ”
The Big West Conference champions, who were competing in their 17th College World Series, end their memorable season with a 39-25 overall record and a 34-29 mark in the College World Series.