BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 5-ranked LSU scored scored six unearned runs Wednesday, fighting through a 2 hour, 24 minute rain delay to defeat Southeastern Louisiana, 11-4, in non-conference play at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU (26-11) struck for three unearned runs in the first.
Antoine Duplantis reached on a throwing by Lion shortstop
Brennan Breaud. He advanced to third base on Jake Fraley's single to center field and scored on Jordan Romero's single up the middle.
Fraley scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Kramer Robertson and, after a wild pitch, Robertson scored from second on Beau Jordan's single to right-center field.
The Tigers added a run in the second to extend their lead to 4-0. Cole Freeman tripled into the left-field corner and scored on a wild pitch.
Southeastern (26-12) was threatening to tie the game up in third when the skies opened up.
Reliever Riley Smith issued a one-out walk to
Jacob Seward. With two outs, Breaud slapped a single through the left side. Smith then walked
Daniel Midyett and
Jameson Fisher to force in a run.
Smith fell behind
Carson Crites, 3-1, when LSU head coach Paul Mainieri made the call to the bullpen for reliever Collin Strall. While Strall completed his warmup pitches, the umpires called for the tarp to be pulled.
After the rain delay, Strall walked Crites to force in a run. Reliever Jesse Stallings then walked
Drew Avans to force in yet another run, pulling the Lions within a run, 4-3.
An error by Southeastern third baseman
Taylor Schwaner led to a pair of unearned Tiger runs in the fourth and LSU picked up a run on sac fly in the fifth, going back up by four, 7-3.
Southeastern got one run back in the fifth, with Crites smashing his sixth home run of the season. The one-out, solo shot kicked up and out the top of the bleachers in left-center field.
LSU first baseman Greg Deichmann put the game out of reach with a three-run home run in the sixth, one of the runs being unearned following a dropped foul ball. The Tigers' final run came on a solo home run by catcher Michael Papierski in the eighth.
The teams combined to use 14 pitchers, with the Lions throwing six. LSU starter Doug Norman (1-0) earned the win, tossing a pair of perfect innings. Southeastern starting pitcher
Pat Cashman (3-3) was tagged with the loss, allowing four runs (one earned) in two innings. The senior right-hander fanned four batters.
Catcher
Chris Eades led the Lions at the plate. The senior from Slidell, Louisiana, picked up a pair of hits (2-for-4) against his brother's former team.
Southeastern travels to Lake Charles, Louisiana, this coming weekend for a three-game, Southland Conference series at in-state rival McNeese State. Friday's 6 p.m. series opener will be televised once again by Cox Sports Television and will be available on ESPN3 outside the CST viewing area.
LSU 11, Southeastern 4 (Apr 20, 2016 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Southeastern........ 003 010 000 - 4 6 4 (26-12)
LSU......................... 312 103 01X - 11 11 1 (26-11)
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Pitchers: Southeastern - Cashman, Pat; Gaconi, Corey (3); Green, Josh (4); Robinson, Payton (6); Von Rosenberg, Gabe (7); Graffeo, Carlo (8) and Eades, Chris. LSU – Norman, Doug Norman; Smith, Riley (3); Strall, Collin (3); Stallings, Jesse (3); Gilbert, Caleb (6); Bugg, Parker (7); Bain, Austin (8); Reynolds, Russell (9) and Romero, Jordan; Papierski, Michael.
Win-Norman, Michael (1-0) Loss-Cashman, Pat (3-3) T-3:17 A-10474
HR SLU - Crites, Carson (6).
HR LSU - Michael Papierski (2); Greg Deichmann (6).
Weather: 73 degrees, cloudy
Game notes: 2 hour 24 minute rain delay in the top of the 3rd inning
