LSU Holds Off Arkansas 4-2 to Capture SEC Baseball Championship

LSU is the 2017 SEC baseball champion.

Eric Walker pitched 7.2 innings of one-run baseball and Antoine Duplantis scored two runs to lift the Tigers to a 4-2 victory over fourth-seeded Arkansas in Sunday's conference championship game.

Walker struck out eight batters and allowed just five hits before ceding to the bullpen. The 6-foot righty's only run allowed came on a solo home run by Arkansas' Eric Cole, who briefly gave the Razorbacks a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning.The SEC Network shared a replay of the homer:

LSU responded by scoring three of its four runs in the top of the fourth, with Nick Coomes, Josh Smith and Bryce Jordan driving in one apiece.

Coomes, who only got two actual at-bats on the afternoon as he was pitched around, also drove in a run in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly.

Duplantis scored his second of two runs with a great slide to avoid the tag by Arkansas catcher Grant Koch. Glenn Guilbeau of Gannett Media complimented the slide:

Once the Tigers gave Walker a bit of breathing room, Arkansas never really had much of a chance to mount a comeback. Walker calmly mowed through the Razorbacks lineup with precision, rarely even working with runners on base. No Arkansas player had more than one hit against Walker.

The Razorbacks' best comeback chance came in the ninth inning when they got runners on first and second with one out against Hunter Newman. The LSU closer recorded an out on the first batter he faced but then proceeded to walk Koch and plunk Evan Lee to put runners on.

Cole drove in his second run of the game with two outs, and then Newman intentionally walked Chad Spanberger to load the bases. With pressure mounting, his command in a rut and the game-tying run on second, Newman got Luke Bonfield to ground into a fielder's choice to end the game.

Scott Rabalais of the Advocate commented on Newman's wild inning:

LSU, ranked seventh in last week's polls, will now await the NCAA selection committee's determination on where it'll stand heading into the tournament. The Tigers ranked only behind Florida among SEC teams coming into the conference tournament and may vault ahead of the Gators after the championship.

Arkansas will also have no trouble making the dance, sitting 13th in the polls coming into the weekend. The Razorbacks' seeding would have just been helped had they been able to get over the hump Sunday.