LSU Falls To Houston, 12-2, In Regional Title Game, Season Comes To An End

The 2014 season came to and end for the seventh-ranked LSU Tigers on Monday night, after falling, 12-2, to the Houston Cougars in the championship game of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana Regional at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge.

Houston used a seven-run third inning to help propel them to the win, and the regional crown, after going 4-1 in the tournament, including two wins in extra innings.

The win was the second in three games over LSU in the regional for Houston, while denying the Tigers a trip to their third-consecutive Super Regional, and their 11th in program history.

LSU, the top-seed in the regional, and the 8th-overall national seed, scored two runs in the top half of the first inning off of Houston starter Andrew Lantrip, when shortstop Alex Bregman singled with one out, and then advanced to second on a single by left-fielder Jake Fraley. After a double-steal, both Bregman and Fraley scored on a single by designated hitter Sean McMullen, giving them a 2-0 lead.

As it turned out, those would be the only runs of the evening for the Tigers.

Houston, the second-seed in the regional, answered with two runs off of their own off of LSU starter Alden Cartwright in the bottom half of the first, when right-fielder Kyle Survance was hit by a pitch to lead-off the inning, before designated hitter Adam Pyeatt and first baseman Casey Grayson both walked, loading the bases with nobody out.

Parker Bugg came in in relief for LSU, and retired three of the four hitters he faced, but not before Houston shortstop Frankie Ratcliff drove home Survance with a sacrifice fly, and catcher Caleb Carter scored Pyeatt with a ground out, evening the game, 2-2.

The Cougars grabbed the lead in the bottom half of the third inning, plating six runs, including four off of Bugg, which turned out to be the difference in the game. Grayson walked to lead-off the frame, advanced to second on a single by Ratcliff, and then went to third after Barker was hit by a pitch. After second baseman Josh Vidales reached on a fielders choice, forcing out Grayson at the plate, left-fielder Landon Appling was hit by a pitch, scoring Ratcliff, to make it 3-2, UH.

Houston wasn't done yet, however, as third baseman Connor Hollis followed with a two-run double off of Brady Domangue, who was in in relief of Bugg, scoring Vidales and Barker, to make it 5-2, before centerfielder Ashford Fulmer single up the middle, scoring Appling, to make it 6-2.

Still not done, the Cougars added two more runs, when Pyeatt singled, scoring Fulmer and Hollis, to extend the lead to 8-2.

The third LSU pitcher of the inning, Nate Fury, recorded the second out of the inning, as Ratcliff scored Survance with a sacrifice fly, to elevate the lead to 9-2.

In all, the Cougars scored seven runs on five hits in the frame, to take an insurmountable  seven-run lead through three innings.

Houston added three insurance runs in the bottom half of the eighth inning, their third crooked number-inning of the game, and went on to score 12-unanswered runs, en route to the ten-run, double-digit win.

Fulmer led the way for Houston, offensively, going 3-for-4, with a run socred, and two runs batted in, as the Cougars outhit LSU, 12-8

Jared Robinson (5-1) picked-up the win for the Cougars, while Bugg (2-2) suffered the loss for the Tigers.

The win on Monday night followed a 5-4 win by UH over LSU on Sunday in 11 innings, one in which they trailed, 4-0, after seven innings, before rallying to win, forcing the "if necessary" game, and the eventual championship game win.

Houston, who advances to the Super Regionals, where they will face the Texas Longhorns, improved to 48-16, while LSU ends their season with an overall record of 46-16-1.

View the game box score

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The complete Baton Rouge, La. Regional bracket is below:

Friday, May 30
Game 1 – #4 seed Southeastern Louisiana 4  #1 seed LSU 8
Game 2 – #3 seed Bryant  2  #2 seed Houston 3

Saturday, May 31
Game 3 – Southeastern Louisiana 2,  Bryant 1  (Bryant eliminated)
Game 4 – LSU 5,  Houston 1

Sunday, June 1
Game 5 – Houston 9,  Southeastern Louisiana 4  (SLU eliminated)
Game 6 – Houston 5,  LSU 4

Monday, June 2
Houston 12,  LSU 2  (LSU elimintated)

View the complete NCAA baseball bracket.