LSU baseball falls to Wake For...

OMAHA, Neb. — It all came down to the eighth inning.

LSU baseball had runners on first and third base with one out in the top of the eighth — in a prime position to retake the lead with the score tied at two. This was the biggest moment of the game, and the Tigers had Wake Forest on the ropes and Cade Beloso at the plate.

Beloso did his job: putting the ball in play. He hit a ground ball to third base that Wake Forest third baseman Brock Wilken fielded, double-clutched and threw to home plate.

The play at the plate was close, but Tre Morgan was called out. Some may question his decision to go home at all, but the damage had already been done while the score stayed knotted at 2-2.

An RBI single from catcher Bennett Lee handed the Demon Deacons the lead in the bottom of the eighth and reliever Camden Minacci shut down the Tigers in the ninth, as Wake Forest escaped with a 3-2 win in the 2023 College World Series.

With the loss, LSU (49-16) will play Tennessee at 6 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN. Wake Forest (54-10) will play the winner of that game on Wednesday — just a win away from reaching the College World Series final.

LSU baseball: Ty Floyd's night

Through five innings, Ty Floyd threw the ball as well as he has all season.

He held the No. 1 team in the nation to just two hits and no runs, while tying a career-high in strikeouts with 10. But everything changed in the sixth.

Floyd walked the first three batters of the inning to load the bases with nobody out. He was replaced by Thatcher Hurd, who surrendered LSU's two-run lead but buckled down and kept the game tied after inducing a double play and getting a strikeout to escape the jam.

LSU Tigers baseball: To wear or not to wear

Playing left field at Charles Schwab Field is not ann easy, just ask Josh Pearson.

And Wake Forest left fielder Adam Cecere.

With two outs, Tommy White at second base and LSU nursing a 1-0 lead, Tre Morgan slapped a ball to Cecere in left. But Cecere completely lost the ball in the sun, allowing White to score and Morgan to get to third.

Cecere was not wearing his sunglasses when he lost the ball, which seemed counterproductive. But, as Pearson noted on Sunday, the shadows extending from the first baseline bleachers make wearing sunglasses difficult.

"The shadows make it harder. So (if) I have my sunglasses on, I won't able to see the ball," Pearson said on Sunday. "So I have to cover it over my hand."