LSU mounts ninth-inning comeback to defeat South Carolina in dramatic SEC tournament win (2024)

HOOVER, Ala. — LSUentered Thursday's game with a 2-8 record against Southeastern Conference teams in matchups where neither right-hander Luke Holman or left-hander Gage Jump have pitched.

Change that record to 3-8.

The No. 11 seed Tigers took down No. 10South Carolina11-10 on Thursday to advance to the semifinals of the SEC tournament. They improved to 3-0 at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium for the first time since 2017, the last time they won the tourney.

"Well, I thought we might be in trouble this morning when I found out it was Skip Bertman's birthday," South Carolina coach Mark Kingston said. "and I know how that leads to things, especially in this tournament."

LSU trailed 10-9 entering the ninth inning, but Steven Milam and Jake Brown reached on singles. Both runners eventually advanced with one out, allowing Alex Milazzo to hit a sacrifice fly out to deep left field to tie the game at 10.

Then, with two outs and facing his former team, Michael Braswell shot a single into left field that scored Brown and gave LSU the 11-10 lead.

"I couldn't find a moment where I've been happier in the sport of baseball, honestly," Braswell said. "I have respect for the South Carolina program, but I'm an LSU Tiger, and there's been a lot of social media things going on in the last recent days, and to get that hit really kind of gave me satisfaction for a lot of things. It meant the world to me."

Right-hander Fidel Ulloa then tossed a scoreless ninth to close out the victory.

"Really for the last month, every win we've had has been the most important win," LSU coach Jay Johnson said. "Tonight was the best win of the season."

LSU kicked off the scoring with an RBI single from Milam in the second inning before South Carolina answered by scoring five runs in the third.

But that didn't deter the Tigers' offense. In the fourth inning, Hayden Travinski hit a run-scoring double to cut their deficit to three, and then Milam hit another run-scoring single to shorten the Gameco*cks' lead to two.

Then, following multiple bunt attempts and with two strikes, Brown blasted his first career home run against SEC pitching. The two-run shot tied the score at 5.

"It's going to be exciting when he really becomes a great player because there's all the ability there in the world," Johnson said. "I could throw out some Major League player comparisons, but it's going to be fun to tackle that next step with him the next couple years."

Soon thereafter, in the fifth inning, Jared Jones cracked his 24th homer of the year into the South Carolina bullpen to give the lead back to LSU. Then after the Gameco*cks tied the score again in the bottom of the inning, the Tigers answered when a groundout from White scored Milazzo from third base.

LSU was held in check in the seventh after South Carolina took a three-run lead, but the Tigers came to life again in the eighth. With the bases loaded and two out, Josh Pearson hit a ground ball to first base — but it went right through Gavin Casas' legs, allowing two runs to score to cut LSU's deficit to one.

The Tigers then had the chance to then at least tie the game with runners on the corners, but Hayden Travinski struck out to end the inning.

"In the postseason you get behind if you press, if you panic, the season gets away from you in a hurry, and these guys have not done that the entire season," Johnson said. "That was the best example of it tonight."

Right-hander Thatcher Hurd started for LSU (39-20) and pitched well to begin the outing. He struck out five batters in the first two innings and didn't allow a run.

But things went sideways for him in the third. He walked two batters, hit another and gave up a double, resulting in a run to score and the bases being loaded with nobody out.

Johnson then turned to left-hander Nate Ackenhausen to face Gameco*cks slugger Cole Messina, but Messina made LSU pay. He blasted a grand slam to hand South Carolina (35-22) a four-run lead.

"Cole Messina is a beast. Like holy cow," Johnson said. "I don't know where to start trying to get him out right now. He single-handedly almost beat us tonight."

Ackenhausen eventually settled down, retiring the next six batters. But he ran into trouble in the fifth after surrendering a walk and a single to start the inning.

Right-hander Christian Little then replaced him and walked Messina to load the bases. Little surrendered a sacrifice fly out that tied the game at 6 but escaped the jam with a pair of strikeouts.

The sixth inning, however, was not as easy for Little. He surrendered four runs with two outs on a pair of RBI singles before LSU replaced him with left-hander Justin Loer.

"I have full confidence in the guys that went out there tonight. I actually think we pitched better than 10 runs," Johnson said. "I know that's going to sound crazy or I'm trying to spin a positive."

Loer finished the sixth and tossed a scoreless seventh before he was replaced by right-hander Fidel Ulloa with one out in the eighth. Ulloa walked the first two batters he faced but struck out Messina and Parker Noland to end the inning.

"We couldn't go down two. There's a big difference between one- and two-run lead in the ninth inning, as we saw at Alabama a couple weeks ago," Johnson said. "What poise to execute that."

LSU will have Friday off but return to action at noon Saturday to face the winner of Friday's game between No. 3 Kentucky and South Carolina. The game will be on the SEC Network.