LSU Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
Falling behind 3-0 and 6-1 wasn’t ideal. Nor was the rain that delayed the start and stopped action for just more than an hour.
Still, Tuesday’s game was a positive for LSU as the Tigers stormed, pardon the pun, back to run rule the visiting Jaguars 16-6 in seven innings.
It feels like this team has been playing with a weight on its shoulders for a month. Much of that is self-inflicted due to poor play. Comebacks like Sunday’s and offensive assaults like Tuesday’s are good for confidence. Even if that comes against a SWAC pitching staff.
Steven Milam blasted homers from both sides of the plate. John Pearson hit his second longball in as many games. This one left the bat at more than 110 mph and cleared the bleachers in left. Derek Curiel’s grand slam was the swing LSU had to have. It cut a 6-1 deficit to 6-5 in the third. Milam’s second in the next inning tied the score before the rains came.
LSU erupted for six runs after the delay in bottom of the fourth. They bashed six hits in the inning including Pearson’s sizzling homer to cap it.
The 6-1 deficit was alarming.
Southern earned its first three runs in the second with a seven-pitch walk and a pair of well-struck RBI singles. The next three runs were gifts from LSU. All three came around to score when Chris Stanfield misplayed a routine line drive a few steps to his left. With two outs and the bases full, the ball tipped off his glove and trickled toward the left field wall as the Jaguars turned the basepaths into a merry-go-round.
That deficit is a reminder of the struggles LSU has had all season, but the team has scored 52 runs in its last five games. They’ve reached 15 runs in three of those. Sure, two of those are in the midweek and the other was a Sunday, but it’s got to start somewhere.
THE SCORECARD
LSU was 13-for-30 (.433) in the game.
LSU was 7-for-12 (.412) with runners on.
LSU was 6-for-12 (.500) with RISP
LSU was 5-for-5 scoring runners from third with less than two out.
Steven Milam: 3-for-4, 2 HR
Seth Dardar: 2-for-3, 3B, RBI, R, BB
Chris Stanfield: 1-for-1, 2 BB, 3 R
WHAT’S NEXT
LSU hits the road for the first of two straight conference weeks. The Tigers will tangle with Tennessee beginning Friday at 4:30 central time. The Volunteers were swept last weekend by Vanderbilt in Nashville to fall to 3-6 in SEC play.
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