How to Watch: LSU Baseball vs. North Carolina Tar Heels (Chapel Hill Regional)

The reigning National Champion LSU Tigers rallied back on Friday afternoon to come out victorious in their NCAA Tournament opener against Wofford.

With their backs against the wall, the Tigers launched three homers late with Steve Milam coming up as the hero once again.

Milam smacked a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Tigers to a 4-3 victory over the Terriers to get things started in the Chapel Hill Regional.

Now, all attention shifts to the winner’s bracket matchup between LSU and North Carolina.

Here’s a look into the game information for Saturday, how to watch and a scouting report on the Tar Heels:

DATE/TIME
• Saturday, June 1 at 4 p.m. CT (ESPN2)
STADIUM
• Boshamer Stadium – Chapel Hill, N.C. (5,000)
RADIO
• LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates
• Live audio at www.LSUsports.net/live; Live stats at www.LSUstats.com
TV/ONLINE
• Saturday’s game will be televised by ESPN2; the game will also be streamed on ESPN+

LSU IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• LSU is in the NCAA Tournament for the 12th straight season and for the 36th time overall …. LSU has seven national championships (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2009, 2023), the second-most in NCAA history … the Tigers were an NCAA Tournament Top 8 National Seed for an NCAA-record six straight seasons (2012-17) … LSU was the No. 5 National Seed in 2023 and claimed the school’s seventh CWS title … LSU has the second-highest all-time NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.707, 174-72).

• LSU has played host to 27 NCAA Regionals at Alex Box Stadium, and the Chapel Hill Regional marks the Tigers’ ninth regional on the road: LSU has a 108-27 (.800) all-time record in NCAA Regional games, including an 89-17 (.840) mark in home regional games and a 19-10 (.655) record in regional games on the road … LSU has won its home regional on 23 occasions: 1986, ’90, ’91, ’93, ’94, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, 2000, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’08, ’09, ’12, ’13, ’15, ’16, ’17, ’19, ’23 … the Tigers have won road regionals three times – in 1987 (at New Orleans), 1989 (at Texas A&M) and 2021 (at Oregon).

ABOUT THE TIGERS
• The Tigers won four of their last five SEC regular-season series in 2024, posting a 10-5 mark over the final five weeks of the league schedule … LSU is 18-6 in its last 24 games overall and 14-6 in its last 20 games versus SEC teams … the Tigers have seven of their past eight games; their seven-game win streak was broken with a 4-3 loss to top-ranked Tennessee on Sunday in the SEC Tournament championship game … LSU enters the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional No. 23 in the official NCAA RPI rankings.

• Third baseman Tommy White has 75 career homers – 27 in 2022 at NC State, 24 last season at LSU and 24 this season for the Tigers. He is No. 8 all-time in NCAA history in career home runs. White is just the fourth player in NCAA history to reach the 75-homer mark in three seasons.The others are Pete Incaviglia of Oklahoma State, Frank Fazzini of Florida State and George Canale of Virginia Tech. White is also only the fourth player in NCAA history to hit 20+ homers in three seasons. The others are Incaviglia, Canale and Todd Greene of Georgia Southern.

• Second baseman Steven Milam launched a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning Saturday to lift LSU to a 12-11 win over South Carolina in an SEC Tournament semifinal game at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium last Saturday. LSU, which trailed the Gamecocks, 8-0, heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, recorded its biggest comeback win since May 7, 2016, when the Tigers overcame a 9-1 deficit to defeat Arkansas, 10-9 (10 innings), in Alex Box Stadium … Milam hit .476 (10-for-21) in the SEC Tournament with two doubles, two homers, seven RBI and six runs, and he was voted to the all-tournament team.

• LSU shortstop Michael Braswell III lined a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth inning Thursday night to break a 10-10 and lift the Tigers to an 11-10 SEC Tournament win over South Carolina. Braswell, who at played South Carolina for two seasons before transferring to LSU last summer, delivered the game-winning hit against his former team as he slapped a single down the left-field line that helped propel LSU into the tournament semifinal round … Braswell hit .381 (8-for-21) for the entire SEC Tournament with two homers, six RBI and eight runs, and he was voted to the all-tournament team.

• LSU right-hander Luke Holman fired six hitless innings last Wednesday, and the Tigers blasted two grand slams in an 11-0 SEC Tournament win over Kentucky … Holman (9-3) blanked the Wildcats through his six-inning outing, allowing no hits with two walks and seven strikeouts … he threw 100 pitches in the outing, 63 for strikes … Holman was voted to the SEC All-Tournament team.

• LSU left-hander Gage Jump limited Georgia to one run on four hits in 7.0 innings last Tuesday, as the Tigers posted a 9-1 win over the Bulldogs in the opening round of the 2024 SEC Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium … Jump (6-1) tied his season high on Tuesday by firing 105 pitches, 75 for strikes … he allowed just one run on four hits in seven innings with one walk and seven strikeouts, and he was voted to the all-tournament team.

The North Carolina Scouting Report:

The ACC regular season champions earned the No. 4 overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament with the chance to carry its success into postseason ball.

A program that provides a balanced attack in all facets of the game, their pitching is a piece that gives them that extra boost led by aces Jason DeCaro and Shea Sprague.

Get to Know the Aces: DeCaro and Sprague

The Tar Heels rank No. 14 in ERA, No. 35 in WHIP, No. 52 in hits allowed per nine innings and have two shutouts on the season, but their one-two punch on the mound has helped in a big way this season.

DeCaro… The true freshman righty comes into the NCAA Tournament with a 3.80 ERA in 14 starts with 64 strikeouts and 34 walks in Year 1 with the Tar Heels.

Sprague… The veteran in the North Carolina pitching rotation came in from Elon during the offseason and burst on the scene fast. A right-handed pitcher, Sprague started 12 games during the 2024 season with a 4.02 ERA. The walk to strikeout ratio is impressive for Sprague with just 14 walks on the year to 55 strikeouts.

Sprague will be the starter on Saturday evening for the Tar Heels with LSU’s Luke Holman set to get the nod for the Tigers.

The Sluggers: Casey Cooks and Vance Honeycutt

The Tar Heels are a program that doesn’t provide flare at the plate, but their patience is what has allowed them to be successful. After ranking Top 25 in home runs and batting average, they’re impressive at getting on base at an efficient rate while utilizing a touch of power at times.

Their two power hitters come in Casey Cooks and Vance Honeycutt. The tandem was named to the All-ACC first team with slugging percentages of .688 and .699, respectively.

Other LSU News:

NCAA Tournament Bound: LSU Baseball’s Regional Site Revealed on Monday

The Betting Odds: What are LSU’s Chances of Winning the College World Series?

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Follow Zack Nagy on Twitter: @znagy20 and LSU Country: @LSUCountry_FN for all coverage surrounding the LSU program.