College World Series 2017: LSU Knocks Off Florida State to Advance

LSU jumped out to an early lead and held on for a 7-4 victory over Florida State in Wednesday's College World Series battle at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska.

Jared Poche' pitched eight solid innings to help the Tigers keep their season alive while knocking the Seminoles out of the NCAA tournament in the process.

Oregon State now waits in the next round with LSU needing another win to avoid elimination. The full bracket is available at NCAA.com.

The action picked up quickly in this one as LSU got to Florida State starter Cole Sands in the second inning.

With a double and two singles, the Tigers were able to get onto the scoreboard for the opening run:

Three batters later, Jake Slaughter broke the game open with a three-run home run to make it 5-0 LSU:

Sands ended his night with just 1.1 innings pitched and five runs allowed.

Florida State got one run back on a Drew Mendoza home run in the bottom of the inning, but the hits were otherwise tough to come by against Poche'. The starting pitcher was at his best throughout the game, using his best pitches from the start.

Aaron Fitt of D1Baseball described the early performance:

This continued throughout the day, as noted by Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball:

Poche' finished with four runs allowed (three earned) in eight innings with four strikeouts, a solid showing even with two ninth-inning home runs allowed.

Andrew Karp did a great job of keeping things close for Florida State, pitching 5.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to help overcome the early deficit.

Two insurance runs in the ninth for LSU ended up being useful, as the Seminoles battled with back-to-back homers in the bottom of the inning:

Still, this only extended their season slightly before watching it come to a close.

Center fielder Zach Watson finished 3-for-5 as part of a 10-hit day for LSU. Most of the runs came in one inning, but the squad showed once again how dangerous the lineup is at its best.

Things only get tougher, however, with a matchup against Oregon State on Friday. The Beavers beat the Tigers 13-1 in their last meeting, winning their 23rd game in a row in the process.

Considering LSU will have to beat this juggernaut twice to advance, the squad knows this will be an uphill battle.