LSU Country

The Recap: LSU Baseball Drops NCAA Regional Final 4-3 to North Carolina in Heartbreaking Fashion

LSU's rollercoaster season ends in dramatic fashion on Monday night in Chapel Hill, Tar Heels come out on top.

Zack Nagy

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It was a magical run for the reigning National Champions after battling adversity throughout the Chapel Hill Regional, and after capturing wins in back-to-back elimination games on Sunday, LSU's season came to an end on Monday.

Jay Johnson and the Tigers came up just short against the North Carolina Tar Heels on Monday night in the NCAA Regional Final, falling 4-3 in extra innings.

With a 3-2 lead entering the top of the ninth frame, Johnson went to ace pitcher Gage Jump to close things out, but the Tar Heels fought tooth and nail to tie things up.

Heading into the bottom of the ninth, LSU ran out of juice, forcing extra innings where North Carolina ultimately punched in the game-winning run in the top of the 10th.

The storyline on Monday night was the sensational showing from senior pitcher Will Hellmers. He entered the game in the second inning and pieced together a gem for the Tigers.

Hellmers fired five and two-thirds innings while allowing just two hits, two walks, and zero earned runs with four strikeouts.

It was a brutal start for the Tigers after starting right-handed pitcher Sam Dutton allowed back-to-back-to-back singles to get the first inning started for the Tar Heels.

From there, LSU went with Javen Coleman to get the Tigers out of the jam after allowing a pair of runs in.

The LSU defense held North Carolina to just two runs through seven innings after that while the offense came up timely.

Freshman Jake Brown and Jared Jones launched homers for the Tigers to keep LSU afloat through the first few innings.

From there, it was a pitchers duel between Hellmers and North Carolina's Matthew Matthjis with both going back and forth.

LSU was three outs away from punching their ticket to Super Regionals, but the little things ultimately caught up to them down the stretch.

After allowing a pair of runs in the ninth and 10th innings, the Tar Heels squeezed past the Tigers down the stretch.

LSU started a trio of freshmen in the Chapel Hill Regional with the lack of experience plaguing the Tigers in crunch time.

The future is bright in Baton Rouge, and learning curves are expected when the moments are as monumental as they were on Monday.

“We’re always learning, but if you have experience at this time of the year, it’s really expensive. That’s part of the game and what we do in developing players. We had some of that [Saturday], and I wouldn’t have guessed we’d be rolling out three freshmen out in a road regional against the No. 4 team in the country, but a big reason why we’re here is because of those guys helping lead that surge late in the season.

"I have no problem with how we competed in the game. You win these regionals when your best players play great and somebody is going to pay that guy a lot of money and he got a couple good swings off tonight.”

LSU ends the season after going 43-23 with the program unable to make it out of Regional play for the second time in three years.

The defending National Champions battled back after sitting at 3-12 in SEC play in early April, but after cranking out 21 wins in the final 28 games of the season, LSU punched their ticket to postseason play.

Now, all focus shifts to the future of the program with freshmen Steven Milam, Jake Brown, Kade Anderson and Ashton Larson, among others, prepared to lead this program in 2025.

Other LSU News:

Staying Alive: LSU Defeats North Carolina 8-4 to Remain Alive in Chapel Hill

The Recap: LSU Takes Down Wofford in Pivotal Elimination Game

The Bracket: The Updated Chapel Hill Regional Bracket

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Zack Nagy
ZACK NAGY

Zack Nagy is the Managing Editor and Publisher of LSU Country, a Sports Illustrated Publication. Nagy has covered Tiger Football, Basketball, Baseball and Recruiting, looking to keep readers updated on anything and everything involving LSU athletics. 

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