BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 2-ranked LSU Tigers rallied for a pair of runs in the eighth inning Thursday, holding on for a 9-8 win over Southeastern Louisiana at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

Southeastern (5-4), which trailed 7-1 after three innings, rallied for five runs in the fifth inning.

Jacob Seward drew a walk to lead off the inning and Julian Service reached on a fielding error by the LSU (7-1) pitcher. Daniel Midyett singled to right, one of his three hits in the game, to load the bases with no outs.

Following a Kevin Carr strikeout, Carson Crites singled up the middle to drive in Seward. Ryan Byers drew a bases-loaded walk, plating Service. Midyett would come home to score on a wild pitch, leaving both Crites and Byers in scoring position.

With two outs, pinch hitter Webb Bobo brought the Lions within a run with a two-run single to left field.

Southeastern took the lead with a pair of runs in the seventh. Brett Hoffman singled to left with one out. Jacob Williams, pinch running for Hoffman, advanced to second base on Kennon Menard's single through the right side.

With two outs, Seward drew a walk off new reliever Zac Person to load the bases. Service drew a bases-loaded walk to plate Williams with the tying run and Menard scored on a wild pitch to give the Lions an 8-7 lead.

Pat Cashman (0-2), who tossed scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh, suffered the loss as LSU rallied for a pair of runs in the eighth.

First baseman Conner Hale singled up the middle with one out. Cashman got a potential inning-ending double-play ball off the bat of Kade Scivicque, but Menard was charged with an error after he caught a bad bounce off the short hop. With a pair of runners in scoring position, left fielder Jake Fraley tripled to right to plate the tying and winning runs.

Reliever Collin Strall (1-0) earned the win for the Tigers, tossing a scoreless eighth. Jesse Stallings earned his fourth save of the season with a scoreless ninth.

Carson Crites, who went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, joined Midyett with multiple hits. The Lions had 11 hits in the game, drawing nine walks.

Southeastern opens a season-high five game homestand Friday at 7 p.m. against Northwestern University (Big 10) at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field. The series opener against the Wildcats (1-6) has been pushed back an hour to accommodate a change in Northwestern's flight plans due to weather in the Chicago, Illinois, area.

All general admission tickets for Friday's game are $5. Saturday's game, which includes baseball-themed bingo, is slated for 2 p.m. The game is also part of the Great American Spit Out.

Sunday's 1 p.m. series finale is Academy Family Sunday in the Park. Roomie's Kid Zone, sponsored by Academy Sports and Outdoors, will be open down the left-field line featuring a bounce house and other family-friendly activities. Kid's are welcome to join the Lions on the field for the national anthem Sunday and to run the bases after the game.

Friday and Sunday's games can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU 90.9 FM, online and either the KSLU or TuneIn Radio smartphone apps. Fans can keep up with the series through live statistics or by following SLUathletics on Twitter. Streaming video is available on LionVision, Southeastern's subscription-based video stream. Links for audio, video, stats and tickets are available on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.

Tate Scioneaux (0-1, 7.50), a junior right-hander from Reserve, Louisiana, draws the series opening nod for the Lions. He draws fellow righty Brandon Magallones (0-0, 2.25) for the Wildcats.

Saturday the Lions will send junior right-hander Jake Johnson (2-0, 0.00), a transfer from Neosho County (Ks.) C.C, to the mound against Northwestern southpaw Reed Mason (0-2, 9.90). Junior left-hander Kyle Cedotal (1-1, 3.48) draws the starting nod for Southeastern in Sunday's series finale against Wildcat left-hander Matt Portland (0-2, 2.25).


LSU 9, Southeastern La. 8 (Feb 26, 2015 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Southeastern La..... 100 050 200 - 8 11 3 (5-4)
LSU....................... 016 000 02X - 9 13 3 (7-1)
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Pitchers: Southeastern La. - Carlini, Domenick; Pickett, Gage (3); Cashman, Pat (6) and Cuccia, Nico. LSU - Doug Norman; Parker Bugg (5); Alden Cartwright (7); Zac Person (7); Collin Strall (8); Jesse Stallings (9) and Kade Scivicque.

Win-Collin Strall(1-0) Save-Jesse Stallings(4) Loss-Cashman, Pat(0-2) T-3:33 A-10069
Weather: 47 degrees, clear