OMAHA, Neb. — Five runs typically have been the magic number for LSU this season.
Heading into Game 1 of the College World Series final, the Tigers had lost only twice all year when they had scored at least five runs.
When Kade Anderson is pitching, such lofty heights aren’t usually required.
LSU needed just one run against Coastal Carolina on Saturday night at Charles Schwab Field. Anderson, the LSU left-handed sophomore ace who is the potential No. 1 pick in the upcoming MLB draft, made sure of it.
Anderson tossed his second complete-game shutout of the season to deliver LSU’s first-ever 1-0 win in Omaha. He struck out 10 batters and allowed just three hits on 130 pitches.
The Tigers are one win away from their eighth national championship in program history with two shots at getting it. The first one is set for 1:30 p.m. Sunday against Coastal Carolina on ABC.
Coastal Carolina made Anderson work for his gem. The Chanticleers drew five walks and were hit by two pitches. They put a runner in scoring position in the first, third, fourth and seventh innings. Anderson had thrown 54 pitches through just three frames.
But Anderson got better as the game went on. After walking three batters through the first two innings, he escaped a jam in the third, struck out the side in the fourth and cruised through the next two innings.
He allowed a single in the seventh inning and a walk in the eighth, but nothing else as he entered the ninth having thrown 115 pitches. He struck out first baseman Colby Thorndyke and forced a groundout to third base before walking pinch-hitter Domenico Tozzi with two outs.
Pitching coach Nate Yeskie met with Anderson on the mound after the walk. Whatever he said must have worked, as Anderson forced a fly out to right field to end the game.
The only run between the two sides came in the first inning when LSU sophomore Steven Milam shot a single up the middle to drive in freshman Derek Curiel from second base.
Milam wasn’t done after his single. The New Mexico native doubled and reached third base in the third inning and walked to lead off the sixth. Besides junior Daniel Dickinson’s second-inning single, Milam was the only Tiger with a hit through the first 5⅔ innings.
After Milam’s walk, senior Luis Hernandez ripped a single to put runners on the corners with two outs for junior Chris Stanfield. But Stanfield, who was 2 for 12 in Omaha entering his at-bat, grounded out to shortstop to end the threat.
Hernandez’s single had the chance of being a run-scoring hit after right-handed pitcher Cameron Flukey’s pickoff throw to first base went haywire. But instead of the ball squirting away from Thorndyke, it hit first-base umpire Jeff Head and didn’t allow Milam to advance to second base.
Flukey, despite his wild pickoff attempt, fooled the LSU lineup through six innings. He allowed just one earned run on four hits and recorded nine strikeouts before exiting for left-hander Dominick Carbone.
LSU finished with six hits but went just 2 for 14 with runners on base. Milam was the only Tiger with multiple hits.
