College World Series : LSU Gets Five Unearned Runs in 10th to Win, 6-2

Louisiana State overcame a crushing blow Friday to beat Florida State in the first round of the College World Series.

Florida State’s Barry Blackwell hit a two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to make the score 1-1, but the Tigers rebounded with five unearned runs in the 10th and won, 6-2.

“That was a great moment for Louisiana State, the way we came right back,” Tigers Coach Skip Bertman said. “Blackwell really crushed the ball, but we blew it off and went to work.”

The home run kept Gregg Patterson from becoming the first pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout in the College World Series since 1983.

Patterson (10-2) gave up seven hits and no walks in 9 innings to win a pitching battle against Florida State’s Richie Lewis.

“I just tried to throw strikes,” said Patterson, a junior left-hander. “Then, when you get two strikes, you try to throw balls in the dirt and make them swing.

“I think we had them mixed up and off balance, because a couple of my fastballs they took right down the middle.”

Reliever Barry Manuel got the final two outs for his ninth save.

Mike Papajohn drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th with a one-out squeeze bunt that scored Pete Bush. Andy Galy hit a two-run single one out later and Jack Voight added a two-run triple as LSU took advantage of errors by Richie Lewis and center fielder Ronald Lewis.

“We’ll be back,” said Richie Lewis (15-3). “That’s the good thing about double-elimination baseball.”

Lewis gave up 7 hits and struck out 12 to increase his career total to 507.

Louisiana State (48-17) advanced to a second-round game Monday against Oklahoma State (57-11), which beat Arizona State, 8-3, earlier Friday. Florida State (54-17) plays Arizona State (40-26) in a loser’s bracket game Sunday.

Oklahoma State’s Robin Ventura extended his NCAA-record hitting streak to 57 games.

Ventura was retired his first two times up but said he wasn’t worried about the hitting streak.

“There’s no pressure,” the sophomore third baseman said. “This team’s good enough that if I don’t get a hit, I’m not worried that we can’t win.”

Ventura extended the streak with a line-drive single in the Cowboys’ three-run sixth inning. He added an RBI double in the seventh.