LSU Tigers vs Wake Forest Demon Deacons

We know an instant sports classic when we see it.

Yankees/Red Sox 2003 featuring Aaron F. Boone

Yankees/Red Sox 2004 featuring Dave Roberts and David Ortiz

Patriots/Falcons 28-3, enough said

LSU/Alabama 2019 - Tigers 46, Alabama 41

It generally becomes an Instant Classic when two great teams battle it out, a huge comeback or a few unforgettable plays.

It may have taken three or four innings, but everyone watching the LSU Tigers and Wake Forest Demon Deacons play baseball Thursday night in Omaha, knew they were watching an instant classic.

A pair of Top 10 major league pitching prospects going at it. Wake Forest’s Rhett Lowder matching the zeroes of LSU’s Paul Skenes. Skenes throwing 120 pitches on four days rest, including one at 100 miles per hour in his last inning of work.

Spectacular defensive plays by LSU’s 1B Tre Morgan, cutting down what would’ve been the first run of the game in the 8th inning on a safety squeeze. The numerous plays by Wake 2B Justin Johnson, keeping balls in the infield, preventing LSU from putting any runs on the board.

What about Wake Forest Head Coach Tom Walter making a pitching change to specifically pitch to the best hitter in college baseball and Michael Massey actually striking Dylan Crews out with the winning run on at 2B in the bottom of the 9th?

Or Thatcher Hurd, grooving one to Wake Forest slugger Brock Wilken, only to see him fly out harmlessly to Crews in centerfield.

We all know how the game ended, with Tommy White sending Cam Minacci’s first pitch over the wall in left field for an unforgettable but it was a deserving ending for this game. )Wake was probably a little fortunate when Crews singled on a hanging slider instead of hitting a home run on the pitch before from Massey.)

Now the LSU Tigers are on to face the Florida Gators. A rematch of the 2017 College World Series that saw the Gators win, taking two of the three from the Tigers. We can only hope to see another Instant Classic over the next two or three games. Thing is, we’ll know it when we see it.