OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Cade Beloso hit the tiebreaking homer in the top of the 11th inning after Ty Floyd struck out a career-high 17 for the most in a College World Series game in 51 years and LSU beat Florida 4-3 in Game 1 of the CWS finals Saturday night.
Beloso’s blast came after LSU left fielder Josh Pearson made a leaping catch to keep Florida from scoring the winning run in the 10th and moved the Tigers within a win of their seventh national championship, and first since 2009.
Beloso’s three-run homer in a 5-2 win over Wake Forest on Wednesday kept the Tigers’ season alive, and he came up against Florida closer Brandon Neely (3-2) to lead off the 11th.
Beloso sent Neely’s second pitch over the right-field fence, raised his left index finger to the sky as he rounded third and stuck out his tongue as he crossed home plate. Then he beat his chest, pulled on the front his jersey a couple times and chest-bumped Floyd on his way into the dugout.
LSU closer Riley Cooper (5-3) took over in the ninth inning after Floyd struck out the most batters in a CWS game since Arizona State’s Ed Bane fanned 17 in a 1-0 win over Oklahoma in 1972.
Cooper worked out of trouble in the ninth and 10th before pitching a 1-2-3 11th that ended with him striking out BT Riopelle and Deric Fabian, setting off a celebration among the throng of LSU fans that included Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and 2019 LSU national champion Joe Burrow.
It looked as though Wyatt Langford had the winning hit for Florida in the 10th when he sent a high liner to left, but Pearson ran back and made a leaping catch. That brought up national home run co-leader Jac Caglianone, who popped out to end the inning.
Riopelle hit his 18th homer of the year, and eighth in 14 games, to put the Gators up 3-2 in the sixth.
Tommy White, who sent the Tigers to the finals with his 11th-inning walk-off homer against Wake Forest on Thursday, tied it in the eighth when he hammered Cade Fisher’s 0-2 slider into the left-field seats for his 24th of the season.
The game was a CWS record-tying eighth decided by one run.
LSU managed to win despite striking out 16 times and leaving 17 runners on base against Brandon Sproat, Fisher and Neely.
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