Nate Ackenhausen, Riley Cooper Lead LSU Past Tennessee At Men’s College World Series

OMAHA—Big lefthanders Nate Ackenhausen and Riley Cooper were the dynamic duo Tuesday night for LSU.

They’re not carbon copies of the other, but they do share a lot of characteristics. They’ve got a similar build—Ackenhausen is listed at 6-foot-2, 240 pounds, while Cooper is listed at 6-foot-2, 270 pounds—and a similar full-beard, shaggy hair look. Both can work as swingmen on the pitching staff, capable of starting or relieving. Both have solid stuff but rely more on control and moxie than on pure stuff to get outs. They’re roommates at LSU and say they don’t do much in their free time—“maybe watch a movie,” according to Cooper.

On Tuesday, they joined forces to shut out Tennessee, 5-0, in an elimination game at the College World Series and pitch LSU into the bracket final. The Tigers will face Wake Forest and will need to beat the Demon Deacons twice to advance to the championship series.

“It starts and ends on the mound, winning baseball,” coach Jay Johnson said. “And the two big lefthanders here executed at a really, really high level.”

Ackenhausen, a transfer from Eastern Oklahoma State JC, has been a key arm in the LSU bullpen much of the season. He was limited early in SEC play by a hamstring injury but got back in the mix in late April. At the SEC Tournament, he threw 3.2 innings and 67 pitches against South Carolina, as LSU extended him back out in preparation for the NCAA Tournament.

While Ackenhausen was ready for an extended outing, he only pitched 1.2 innings in regionals and then wasn’t needed in super regionals as LSU swept Kentucky. With the Tigers needing to fight out of the CWS loser’s bracket after a tough, 3-2 loss to Wake Forest on Monday night, however, it was clear Ackenhausen’s number would be called sometime this week.

Johnson had a few options he could have chosen for Tuesday’s start, but he liked the matchup for Ackenhausen—LSU has a 14-2 record when he pitches.

“I knew he would handle it well; I knew he would throw strikes,” Johnson said. “Saw some things in the matchup that I liked. Saw some things in previous games here just throughout the tournament that I liked that I thought he could be effective.”

Johnson texted Ackenhausen just before 9 a.m. Tuesday to tell him he would start. But Ackenhausen slept in and didn’t see the text until he woke up just after 11. He said he replied, “I’ll give it all I got.”

Johnson said he was targeting three innings and 60 pitches for Ackenhausen, which he figured would cover about 12 hitters. Ackenhausen blew those expectations away. He held the Volunteers to four hits and no walks in six innings, striking out seven. He threw 93 pitches and faced 24 hitters. He even started the seventh before hitting Blake Burke, the first batter of the inning, and leading LSU to go to the bullpen.

Ackenhausen kept Tennessee off balance all night. He located his low-90s fastball well, moving it effectively around the strike zone. His changeup was a weapon, particularly against the four lefthanders in the Tennessee lineup, and he mixed in quality breaking balls.

“I just pitched with confidence,” Ackenhausen said. “I had confidence in my defense among me.”

When it came time to replace Ackenhausen on the mound, Johnson again had options. Righthander Blake Money got loose in the bullpen and Gavin Guidry has been a high-leverage option for the Tigers down the stretch. But Johnson called on Cooper for the final three innings.

“I didn’t feel like they were seeing Nate well and I think Riley is about as comparable and close to Nate as possible,” Johnson said. “I wanted to stay with that look because they were in between and when you’re pressing a little bit, when you’re in an elimination game and you’re trying to chase runs late, (Cooper’s) the type of a pitcher if you give him an inch, he’ll take a mile.”

Cooper picked right up where Ackenhausen left off. He struck out two, walked one and gave up two hits in three scoreless innings to earn his second save of the season. He worked around some early traffic before retiring the final four batters he faced to slam the door on any potential Tennessee comeback.

Cooper, who followed Johnson to Baton Rouge from Arizona two years ago, has pitched in three of the last five games Johnson has coached in Omaha, spanning both programs. In those outings, he has thrown 5.1 scoreless innings and held opponents to three hits and one walk, striking out four.

Catcher Alex Milazzo said the Tigers all have confidence when Cooper enters the game.

“That was Coop being Coop, right there,” Milazzo said. “Every time he comes on the mound, I think the whole team, the staff, we all have confidence in Riley right there just because of the fire and competitiveness he brings on the mound.”

Tennessee this season averaged 7.5 runs per game and had been shutout just twice. But on Tuesday, on college baseball’s biggest stage, Ackenhausen and Cooper blanked the Volunteers.

All season long, the LSU pitching staff has faced questions about its depth and effectiveness. The Tigers have lost some key pitchers, like Grant Taylor and Chase Shores to injury, and faced bouts of ineffectiveness. But the greatness of ace Paul Skenes has also overshadowed some of the other success stories on the staff.

Tuesday night’s win shone a bright spotlight on Ackenhausen and Cooper, who both have provided solid innings for the Tigers.

“We’ve had a pretty good year on the mound, but because of some injuries and because of two speed bumps in the best conference in the country, there’s this thought that we don’t have a great pitching staff,” Johnson said. “I think we have a great pitching staff. We have plenty of guys to execute in a way that can give us a chance to be successful.”

LSU will need more of those pitchers to step up over the next two days as it takes on Wake in the bracket final. Because of Monday’s loss, the Tigers must beat the Demon Deacons on both Wednesday and Thursday if they are to advance to play for the national championship. While LSU might have Skenes waiting for Wake on Thursday, it has to get there first.

On Monday night, Johnson said the Tigers would have nine available pitchers the next couple days. LSU used two of them Tuesday. It’ll be up to the other seven to contain a powerful Deacs’ lineup.

But that is Wednesday’s problem for LSU and Johnson. Tuesday belonged to Ackenhausen and Cooper, who came up the biggest when the Tigers needed it the most.