COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
LSU 6, OREGON STATE 1
OMAHA, Neb. -- Nothing LSU encounters in the College World Series championship series will be any more daunting than the task the Tigers had to complete to get there.
The Tigers had to beat an Oregon State team that owned the most formidable record of any team in four decades, and they had to do it twice.
LSU succeeded in dominating fashion.
Caleb Gilbert held the No. 1 national seed Beavers to two hits in 7⅓ innings, Michael Papierski homered from both sides of the plate and LSU won 6-1 on Saturday, a day after beating them 3-1.
"To lose four games the entire season, and we beat them two days in a row, it's hard to predict those things to happen, but that's why you have to play the games," Tigers Coach Paul Mainieri said. "Our kids embraced the challenge."
The Tigers (52-18) won their third consecutive elimination game and will play the Florida-TCU winner in the best-of-three finals beginning Monday.
The Beavers (56-6) had a pair of 23-game winning streaks and finished the season with a .903 winning percentage -- the best since Texas' mark of .908 in 1982.
"It's a tough day when you've had such a great year," Beavers Coach Pat Casey said. "Now is not the time to really think about that or talk about it, but I know there will be a time when they get to sit back and reflect and realize what they accomplished."
Gilbert had allowed just an infield single and walk prior to Michael Gretler's home run in the seventh. He struck out a career-high seven in his longest outing in his two seasons at LSU. Zack Hess allowed one hit the rest of the way.
"It's a surreal feeling to be able to pitch your team, when the back's against the wall in an elimination game, into the College World Series final," Gilbert said. "I just ... tried to attack early with a heater and get ahead and trust my defense behind me."
Papierski became the first player to homer twice in a College World Series game since TCU's Bryan Holaday in 2010. He went deep from the left side off Bryce Fehmel in the second inning and the right side off Brandon Eisert in the fourth.
"I put some good swings on fastballs today," Papierski said, "and after that, the wind helped a little bit. But that wasn't the highlight of the game. It was Caleb Gilbert."
The Beavers managed a season-low two hits Friday, then three more against Gilbert and Hess on Saturday.
"A lot of the game we were taking a lot of defensive swings," Gretler said. "We didn't put any pressure on them."
Before Saturday, Oregon State hadn't lost consecutive games since a five-game losing streak from May 6-13, 2016.
Fourth-seeded LSU bounced back from a 13-1 loss to Oregon State on Monday and reached the championship round for the first time since winning the national title in 2009.
Oregon State went the first 17 innings Friday and Saturday without a leadoff batter reaching base.
"This is a great team," the Beavers' KJ Harrison said. "For us to end up the way we were, obviously, it's not the best. We wanted to win it all. As the days go on, it's definitely a season to remember."
Fehmel was a surprise starter. Casey said Friday that the plan was to throw Drew Rasmussen, but he changed his mind because Fehmel was effective against LSU on Monday and he wanted Rasmussen available for relief.
LSU's Kramer Robertson entered the game 1 for 18 at the College World Series. He went 3 for 3 and reached on a walk.
This marks the 18th year in a row that the No. 1 national seed won't win the championship. Miami in 1999 is the only No. 1 seed to go all the way. That was the first year of the current tournament format.
Sports on 06/25/2017