BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Ethan Frey went 4 for 4 and drove in four runs, Luis Hernandez hit two solo home runs and Casan Evans put on a show out of the bullpen as LSU rallied to defeat upstart Little Rock 10-6 to win the Baton Rouge Regional on Monday night.
Little Rock was bidding to become the first team with a losing record to reach a super regional. As it is, the Trojans are the first team with a losing record to make a regional final, which they forced with a 10-4 win over the Tigers — seeded sixth overall — Sunday night.
Now LSU (46-15) will host unseeded West Virginia, winner of the Clemson Regional, next weekend.
Evans entered the game in the bottom of the second inning as Little Rock (27-34), which entered the postseason with a 19-32 record, was building a 5-1 lead. He threw a career high 109 pitches over six innings with a career-high 12 strikeouts, including nine straight.
Evans' performance allowed the Tigers to get back in the game.
Frey had a solo home run in the first inning and then hit a two-out three-run double in the fourth to bring LSU within 5-4. Hernandez homered to tie it in the sixth and his homer in the eighth extended the lead to 7-5.
Evans walked the bases loaded in the seventh but didn't allow a run. He gave up a couple singles to start the eighth before leaving and the Trojans made it a one-run game on an RBI single by Alex Seguine.
Jared Jones hit a two-run homer in the ninth and Hernandez contributed a run-scoring single to set the final margin.