OMAHA, Neb. – After tearing his ACL and meniscus on Opening Day last season, Cade Beloso came back to LSU baseball for one more chance.
One more chance to hear the roar of the LSU crowd. One more chance to step into the box at The Box. One more chance to win a national championship.
Beloso accomplished those first two objectives back in February. Because of one swing of the bat on Saturday night, he’s now one win away from checking off that final box on his list.
LSU is one victory away from a national championship. The Tigers (53-16) are at that point after defeating Florida 4-3 in the first of a best-of-three 2023 Men’s College World Series final.
With the score tied 3-3 in the 11th inning, Beloso smashed a solo home run into the LSU bullpen to hand the Tigers the lead. Left-handed reliever Riley Cooper then shut down the Gators in the bottom half to seal LSU’s second consecutive 11-inning victory.
“The previous at-bat, he struck me out on three straight heaters and I figured he would go back to it,” Beloso said. “They weren’t going to switch anything up. I got one I was supposed to swing at and put a good swing on it.”
To get the game into extra innings, Tommy White knotted up the score in the eighth, smacking a one-out solo home run to left field.
LSU starting pitcher Ty Floyd had his best performance of the season, striking out 17 batters in eight innings pitched — tying the single-game record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game at the MCWS. He was replaced by Cooper, who threw three shutout innings in relief.
“We aren’t sitting here without Ty Floyd,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “He’s one of the most underappreciated players in college baseball this year.”
Game 2 of the series, the potential title clincher for the Tigers, is slated for 3 p.m. ET Sunday and scheduled to be televised on ESPN.
Contributing: Associated Press
Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley
