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The LSU baseball team needed just a little more than 24 hours and fewer than half of its pitchers to dispose of Oklahoma in the Baton Rouge Super Regional.

The Tigers were so efficient with their pitching and defense that a mere two runs were more than enough to win behind Aaron Nola’s shutout in Game 1 on Friday. That total would have been sufficient in Game 2 as well, though the hitters turned it into an 11-1 rout late Saturday night.

And just like that, LSU had secured a spot in the College World Series beginning Saturday in Omaha, Neb. The Tigers will meet Fullerton (Calif.) Regional champion UCLA in their first game.

The Sooners arrived having won eight in a row. They averaged six runs in sweeping through the Big 12 tournament and more than seven in winning the Blacksburg (Va.) Regional in three games.

But in two games against LSU, they managed just seven hits and one run.

“It was pretty simple,” OU coach Sunny Golloway said. “It was their pitching.”

The Tigers have allowed just eight earned runs in five NCAA tournament games. Although a series of uncharacteristic defensive lapses led to six unearned runs in the regional, the pitching still thrived.

For the tournament, LSU has allowed 29 hits and 15 walks while striking out 35 and compiling a 1.60 ERA. And the highlight was Nola’s masterful two-hitter Friday.

“He’s a pitcher,” said Sooners outfielder Max White, who was 8-for-16 in Blacksburg but 1-for-6 in Baton Rouge. “He really stayed down in the zone, and that’s hard for a hitter to adjust to. He mixed it well — in and out.”

When Ryan Eades allowed an earned run in the first inning Saturday, it was the first one allowed by LSU since the first game of the tournament. The Tigers have yielded just 10 hits in the past three games and one home run in the past 10.

Although Eades struggled so much with his command early that coach Paul Mainieri had Nate Fury warming in the bullpen after a leadoff walk in the second inning, Eades survived. He followed with three scoreless innings and seemed at his best when a nearly one-hour weather delay after the fourth inning ended his evening after 65 pitches.

OU didn’t have any success when LSU went to its bullpen for the first time in the series. As the game unfolded, the Sooners kept going to their bullpen — and the Tigers kept scoring. But LSU ran three relievers into the game, and OU didn’t score again.

“Ryan got us deep enough into the ballgame where we could turn it over to the bullpen, and those guys rose to the occasion,” Mainieri said.

Read more: Pitching carried LSU to College World Series | LSU | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, LA

Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

All little common sense goes a long way.

SmashMouth

And they will need it and more to win it all.

SloMotion

UCLA is tough, I don't think they've lost a game in the 2013 tournament yet ... LSU has the pitching & they don't commit a lot of errors. Indiana's a longshot & the media's 'cinderella story', .

Geaux Tigers!