Tim Fletcher Show: LSUS Pilots Win Big + LSU-South Carolina on 1130 The Tiger

LSU-S throttled Briar Cliff 14-1 to remain alive in the Shawnee Bracket of the NAIA Opening Round event.  Dustin Doucette worked eight innings around a 30-minute weather delay, gave up just four hits and no earned runs to pick up the win.  The Pilots offense, blanked in their regional opener, banged out 15 hits and scored in every inning except the second to advance to an elimination game this afternoon against MidAmerica Nazarene at 2:30 pm. The winner of that game will take on the loser of this morning's Oklahoma Baptist-Sterling matchup.

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In Houston, George Springer's solo homer run in the bottom of the eighth inning proved to be the game winner, giving the Astros a 4-3 win over San Francisco.

Texas rode the home run power of Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo Choo to a 5-2 win over Kansas City.  Fielder finished with three hits to help deliver a win at home.

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Al Horford's putback basket with 1.9 seconds to play lifted Atlanta to an 82-81 win over Washington at home to give the Hawks a 3-2 series lead in their Eastern Conference Semi-final matchup.  Horford's offensive rebound and game-winner followed Paul Pierce's  three-pointer with just over 8.3 seconds that had given the Wiz an 81-80 lead.

Horford did it all for the top-seeded Hawks: 23 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks.  Former Louisiana Tech star Paul Millsap finished with 14 points and 7 rebounds to aid the Hawks winning effort.

On the west coast, Golden State hammered Memphis 98-78 to take a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference semi-final series. Steph Curry hit only six shots---but all six were from three-point land to finish with 18 points.  Klay Thompson shot himself out of a mini-slump to lead the Warriors with 21 points.

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LSU can take a big step toward clinching the SEC regular season title and number one seed in the conference baseball tournament next week with a road win tonight at South Carolina.  If the Tigers can pick up a win, and Ole Miss knocks off Texas A&M and Alabama can beat Vandy, the race is over; the title belongs to the Tigers.

Jared Poche chunks the pill for the top-ranked Tigers while the Gamecocks turn to Jack Wynkoop (8-4, 2.83 ERA)