college world series | Tuesday’s games

Vanderbilt 1, TCU 0

OMAHA, NEB.

Zander Wiel’s home run leading off the seventh inning broke up Alex Young’s no-hit bid, Philip Pfeifer and Kyle Wright combined on a five-hitter.

The defending national champion Commodores (49-19) earned two days off and would have to be beaten twice by either TCU (50-14) or LSU to be denied a second straight trip to the best-of-three finals. Those teams will play an elimination game today. Young (9-3) flummoxed Vanderbilt for six innings, striking out a career-high 12 batters. Wiel drove out the junior left-hander’s 2-1 changeup just inside the left-field foul pole for his 15th homer of the season. Young left after Rhett Wiseman doubled with two outs in the eighth. Pfeiffer (5-5) and Wright allowed five singles and walked four, but the Horned Frogs went 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position. Wright earned his fourth save.

It was the second straight narrow win for the Commodores. They came back from a 3-0 deficit on Monday to defeat Cal State Fullerton 4-3.

LSU 5, Cal State Fullerton 3

OMAHA, NEB.

Alex Lange pitched his second complete game in three starts, allowing only three base runners after a rocky first inning, and LSU knocked Cal State Fullerton out of the College World Series. The Tigers (54-11), the No. 2 national seed and the No. 1 team in the major polls, scored four times in the third inning to wipe out an early deficit. They’ll play Thursday against the loser of the Tuesday night game between Vanderbilt and TCU. Alex Bregman, the No. 2 overall draft pick by the Houston Astros, matched his career high with four hits. The Titans (39-25) used four straight hits and a squeeze bunt to jump out to a 3-0 lead against Lange (12-0). He allowed only two singles and a walk the rest of the way. It was the continuation of a fabulous season for the Southeastern Conference’s freshman of the year. The 6-foot-3, 198-pound Lange allowed three runs in 17 innings over his two previous NCAA Tournament starts.

Associated Press