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LSU rallies to defeat Sam Houston State

Aaron Nola settled down after a rocky first inning to notch a victory against Sam Houston State.

Aaron Nola settled down after a rocky first inning to notch a victory against Sam Houston State.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Aaron Nola bounced back from a five-run first inning by shutting out Sam Houston State for the next six frames, allowing LSU to rally for an 8-5 victory in the NCAA tournament on Saturday night.

None of the runs Nola (11-0) yielded in the first were earned he gave up just three hits after that before Chris Cotton relieved in the eighth and finished up for his LSU-record-tying 16th save.

LSU (54-9) trailed 5-1 after the first inning 5-4 after seven, but Sam Houston shortstop Carter Burgess' error on a potential inning-ending double-play ball allowed Bregman to score the tying run from second.

LSU went ahead on a wild pitch by Sam Houston reliever Michael Burchett. Ty Ross had an RBI single and reliever Andrew Godail's bases-loaded walk capped the scoring.

Alan Scott (2-1) took the loss for Sam Houston (38-21), which plays Louisiana-Lafayette in an elimination game Sunday. The winner of that game will face Sunday night in the Baton Rouge regional final.