LSU's junior right-hander Alex Lange (35) will take the mound against Oregon State in an elimination game.
BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU (50-18) seeks to move one step closer to the College World Series Finals when the Tigers face Oregon State (56-4) at 2 p.m. CT Friday at TD Ameritrade Park.
2017 Interactive bracket | Live Blog
LSU must defeat Oregon State on Friday and again on Saturday in order to advance to the CWS Finals. If Oregon State wins Friday's game, LSU is eliminated from the CWS, and the Beavers advance to play in the final beginning on Monday against either Florida, TCU or Louisville.
Friday's game will be televised on ESPN, and it may also be viewed online at WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app.
LSU, the 2017 SEC regular-season and tournament champion, saw its 17-game win streak end Monday night with a 13-1 loss to Oregon State, but the Tigers' national championship aspirations remain strong. LSU defeated Florida State, 7-4, on Wednesday night to keeps its CWS title hopes alive.
ICYMI: Jared Poché and LSU kept the season alive with a HUGE victory over Florida State last night! #CWS pic.twitter.com/LIu7GRcOv5
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 22, 2017
“Oregon State is a very formidable opponent,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “Obviously, things didn't go very well for us the other night, but I don't think they're 12 runs better than us; I think things just got out of hand. We're glad to have another chance. We're among the last four teams standing, and we're aware of the challenge that is in front of us.”
Notes:
• Mainieri said that junior right-hander Alex Lange would start Friday's game on the mound for the Tigers. Lange (9-5) has a 29-9 career mark and is No. 2 on the LSU all-time strikeouts list with 398 Ks.
• The LSU career strikeouts record is currently held by Scott Schultz, who recorded 409 Ks from 1992-95.
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• LSU is hitting .292 as a team this season with 64 homers and 76 steals in 103 attempts. Sophomore leftfielder Antoine Duplantis is batting a team-high .323 with 14 doubles and 59 RBI. Senior second baseman Cole Freeman is hitting .320 with 41 RBI and 54 runs scored.
• Junior rightfielder Greg Deichmann is batting .313 and leads the Tigers in homers (19) and RBI (73), while freshman centerfielder Zach Watson is hitting .317 with nine doubles, three triples, nine homers and 37 RBI. Watson has homered five times in NCAA Tournament games this season, including a solo blast versus Oregon State on Monday night.
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• Oregon State is hitting .297 as a team with 30 home runs, and the Beavers have 64 steals in 82 attempts.
Less than 24 hours until #LSU and Oregon State square off in Omaha! #GeauxCWS pic.twitter.com/jroTxsv1IZ
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) June 22, 2017
• Infielder Nick Madrigal is batting .388 for OSU with 20 doubles, four homers and 40 RBI, while outfielder Steven Kwan is hitting .342 with six doubles, one homer and 18 RBI.
• First baseman KJ Harrison leads the Beavers with nine homers, while outfielder Trevor Larnach has a team-best 47 RBI.
