LSU hammers West Virginia to book CWS spot

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Jake Brown hit a home run and had four RBIs, Steven Milam had two doubles and also drove in four runs and LSU beat West Virginia 12-5 on Sunday night to sweep the best-of-three Baton Rouge Super Regional.

No. 6 seed LSU (48-15) clinched the program’s 20th berth in the College World Series, where the Tigers will try to win their eighth national championship — all since 1991, the most recent in 2023.

Derek Curiel led off the game with a double and scored to make it 1-0 when Brown reached on a fielder’s choice in the first inning and the Tigers led the rest of the way.

Anthony Eyanson (11-2) gave up four runs on five hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in five innings.

Chris Stanfield, Curiel and Ethan Frey each drew a two-out walk to load the bases before Milam cleared the bases with a double off starter Jack Kartsonas (6-4) to spark a five-run second that made it 6-0.

After Jace Rinehart hit a two-out solo shot and pinch-hitter Chase Swain drew a walk, Chase Shores came on a struck out Brodie Kresser swinging to end the eighth and the pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

Sam White hit a leadoff homer and Ben Lumsden added a two-run shot in the fourth before White added an RBI single in the fifth to cut the deficit to 6-4.

Stanfield hit a two-RBI single to spark a six-run seventh, capped when Brown’s two-run home run gave LSU an eight-run lead.

Milam and Josh Pearson each hit a grand slam as LSU beat the Mountaineers 16-9 in Game 1 on Saturday.

West Virginia (44-16) set the program’s single-season record for wins under first-year coach Steve Sabins. The Mountains advanced to their first-ever super regional last season.

The game had originally been scheduled for 5:06 p.m. local time but was delayed approximately three hours due to inclement weather in the area.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports