LSU is one win away from the College World Series finals; Thursday weather report; more

LSU is one win away from the championship round of the College World Series. The Tigers stayed alive by defeating Wake Forest 5-2 on Wednesday night in Omaha, Nebraska, forcing a rematch with the Demon Deacons.

They will play again at 6 p.m. Thursday.

At stake: a berth in the best-of-three CWS finals, where Florida awaits.

What’s next

The Tigers and Demon Deacons square off at 6 p.m. Thursday at Charles Schwab Field. ESPN2 will televise the game.

The winner moves on to face Florida in the championship round, which begins Saturday.

Florida is in the CWS finals

Florida reached the finals with a 3-2 victory over TCU on Wednesday, making the Gators the fourth team in history to win their bracket with three straight one-run wins.

Cade Kurland, who had struggled at the plate in the CWS, reached on an infield single to drive in the tiebreaking run in the ninth. Michael Robertson, who scored the winning run as a pinch runner and stayed in the game to play center field, ran down Brayden Taylor’s deep fly to make a dazzling catch at the wall to end the game.

Here in Omaha

• Florida is idle Thursday and Friday. The Gators have yet to lose and will head to the finals with their pitching staff well-rested. If LSU were to win Thursday, the first game of the best-of-three CWS finals would be the first meeting between the Tigers and Gators this season.

The Jell-O shot challenge is not even a challenge. Nothing new about that, other than the number.

Touch 30 @LSUbaseball let’s keep the magic going! #cws2023 #RoccosPizza pic.twitter.com/fqDLacWH9D

— CWS Jello Shot Challenge (@CWSShotBoard) June 22, 2023

• LSU homered once in each of its past two wins against Tennessee and Wake Forest, despite an inward-blowing wind. Dylan Crews went deep to right field against the Vols on Tuesday after the wind died down a little (it had been up to 17 mph at one point). Cade Beloso launched a three-run homer to right against Wake Forest, with the wind blowing left to right.

According to the National Weather Service, the forecast for Thursday night calls for partly cloudy skies, a low of 69 degrees and more wind blowing in — but not as strong (5-8 mph southeast).

• No, we don’t yet know whether Paul Skenes will pitch Thursday against Wake Forest, though it’s a wise bet. If you’ve been following along, you already know that Jay Johnson has declined all postseason to name his starting pitcher until just before gametime. If Skenes does pitch, however, he would do so on four days’ rest, having started the Tigers’ CWS opener Saturday night.

In case you missed some of our great coverage, here’s the latest from our crew in Omaha:

• Cade Beloso doesn’t want his LSU career to end. His home run kept the Tigers in CWS.

Game 2: No. 2 Florida 6, No. 7 Virginia 5

Saturday, June 17

Game 3: No. 1 Wake Forest 3, No. 8 Stanford 2

Game 4: No. 5 LSU 6, Tennessee 3

Sunday, June 18

Game 5: TCU 4, No. 7 Virginia 3 (Virginia eliminated)

Game 6: No. 2 Florida 5, Oral Roberts 4

Monday, June 19

Game 7: Tennessee 6, No. 8 Stanford 4 (Stanford eliminated)

Game 8: No. 1 Wake Forest 3, No. 5 LSU 2

Tuesday, June 20

Game 9: TCU 6, Oral Roberts 1 (Oral Roberts eliminated)

Game 10: No. 5 LSU 5, Tennessee 0 (Tennessee eliminated)

Wednesday, June 21

Game 11: No. 2 Florida 3, TCU 2 (TCU eliminated)

Game 12: No. 5 LSU 5, No. 1 Wake Forest 2

Thursday, June 22

Game 13: No. 1 Wake Forest vs. No. 5 LSU, 6 p.m. (ESPN2)

Championship series (best-of three)

Saturday, June 24

Game 1: No. 2 Florida vs. LSU-Wake Forest winner, 6 p.m. (ESPN)

Sunday, June 25

Game 2: No. 2 Florida vs. LSU-Wake Forest winner, 2 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, June 26

Game 3 (if necessary): No. 2 Florida vs. LSU-Wake Forest winner, 6 p.m. (ESPN)