LSU improves to 2-0, hands UCLA first loss at MCWS

No. 6 LSU continued where it left off, beating No. 15 UCLA 9-5 on Tuesday afternoon to complete a suspended game in the Men's College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

The Tigers (50-15) led 5-3 when the contest was stopped Monday night following a lengthy rain delay before the start of the fourth inning. LSU scored twice in the fourth and added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

The Bruins (48-17), now 1-1 in Omaha, face an elimination game on Tuesday night against No. 3 Arkansas. The victor of that contest would then have to beat LSU (now 2-0) twice in order to reach the MCWS final series from Bracket 2.

Freshman Casan Evans (5-1) collected the win for the Tigers after taking the mound for the restart and allowing two runs on four hits with no walks and five strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. Chase Shores was perfect for the last 1 1/3 innings to earn the save.

Jared Jones, who hit his 21st home run of the season on Monday night to drive in three runs, finished with four RBIs on 2-for-4 batting with two runs and one walk. Teammate Jake Brown was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and one run. Steven Milam had two hits and Ethan Frey scored four runs.

The Bruins couldn't catch the Tigers despite scoring three runs in the top of the first inning on Monday. UCLA didn't score again until a two-run eighth.

AJ Salgado was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Mulivai Levu was 2-for-5 with two runs and Payton Brennan drove in two runs for the Bruins. Starter Landon Stump (6-2) took the loss after yielding five runs on four hits with two walks and no strikeouts in two innings.

UCLA had opened the double-elimination tournament in Bracket 2 with a 6-4 win over Murry State on Saturday, while LSU beat Arkansas 4-1 that night.

--Field Level Media