BATON ROUGE — As dog piles go, this one was a tad soggy.

And a bit delayed.

Not to mention anti-climatic.

The traditional LSU victory lap was a little slushy, too.

But no matter.

Roll, Tarp, Roll.

All the way to Omaha.

LSU had to wait out a pregame rain delay, then stayed patient waiting for Mississippi State to run out of pitching and, finally, endured one last visit from the MVP tarp crew — no, wait, make that two last tarp pulls — before going well into Monday morning to get a 14-4 victory over the Bulldogs.

At any rate, when the mud settled, the Tigers’ 16th straight victory gave them a two-game sweep in the NCAA super regional and earned them the school’s 18th trip to the College World Series in Omaha beginning this weekend.

“I think what we’re doing now is what we’re supposed to be doing,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “We’re feeling pretty good about ourselves.”

LSU (48-17), the No. 4 national seed, will open play in the CWS against another frequent Omaha visitor, Florida State, on either Saturday or Sunday.

“We’ll be ready,” said shortstop Kramer Robertson. “We’re not done yet.”

Sunday LSU fell behind for the second straight night, but No. 8 hitter Michael Papierski provided the go-ahead RBIs for the second consecutive game while reliever Caleb Gilbert rescued senior lefthander Jared Poché from a rough outing.

The game started 40 minutes late due to the weather and endured further rain delays in the sixth and ninth innings.

“I’ve waited my whole life for this,” Robertson said. “I could wait a little longer.”

For all the wait, there was scant drama.

With Papierski’s two-run double as the key hit, the Tigers sent 10 men to the plate in the six-run fifth inning to take control of the game 9-4.

Finishing the game was another matter, complicated when LSU sent another nine to the plate and scored five in the top of the ninth ­— just as the steady light rain turned heavy again and forced yet another delay with the tarp coming back out with two outs in the top of the ninth.

LSU scored three before the delay and two afterwards.

The result was inevitable by then, but a surprising number of fans waited it out again, all the way to the end.

The Tigers went through eight Mississippi State pitchers, only one of whom had much hope of retiring many Tigers, and when Cole Gordon ran out of gas in the ninth,the rout was on.

“It is what it is,” said Mississippi State coach Andy Cannizaro, who called LSU the best team in the country and predicted the Tigers would win the national championship. “There’s no excuses. I don’t want to say we ran out of arms. It just didn’t work out.”

Poché couldn’t hold an early 3-0 lead and the Tigers trailed 4-3 heading into the middle innings.

Mainieri was confident the Tigers bats were going to get going.

“But we had to hold them,” he said. “Caleb did a magnicicent job.”

Gilbert gave up a pair of RBI singles to cap the Bulldogs’ four-run third inning, which began on four walks by Poché. But then got the final two outs of the inning, the first two of 15 consecutive batters he retired before a one-out walk in the eighth.

He got the win while allowing just the two hits in 5.2 innings with six strike outs and only one walk.

“Caleb is the story of the game,” Mainieri said.

But the Tigers still needed a comeback.

In the fifth, the Tigers loaded the bases with one out on three walks, setting the table for Papierski’s two-run double and a 5-4 lead.

“He looked so confident going to the plate,” Mainieri said.

They weren’t done.

No. 9 hitter Jake Slaughter delivered an RBI single while Papierski eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Robertson capped the inning with an RBI double for a 9-4 lead.

That was plenty of runs, but the Tigers couldn’t quit scoring in the ninth, bring on more more rain.

 Staked to an early 3-0 lead, Poché couldn’t get out of the third inning.

He was fine the first two, but in the third gave up a walk, then a home run to No. 9 hitter Harrison Bragg, and was pulled after loading the bases on three more walks, the last after an 0-2 count.

“I didn’t want to take him out of the game,” Mainieri said. “Felt it was going to be his night, but in the third he lost his command.”

It was the second straight rugged outing for Poché, who both times was trying to tie the school record for victories.

Now he’ll get that chance in Omaha, on college baseball’s biggest stage.

LSU pitcher Alex Lange walks off the mound in the second inning of an NCAA college baseball tournament super regional game against Mississippi State in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, June 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Gerald Herbert