Michael Bacigalupi
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
After an inning and a half, LSU played some real baseball on Tuesday night.
From the bottom of the second on, the Tigers outscored Southeastern Louisiana 10-0 and coasted to a 12-4 victory over the Southand-leading Lions.
Zac Cowan steadied the ship and allowed the Tiger offense to take control. The senior right hander blanked Southeastern over four frames with seven punchouts and just one walk. His defense responded with some nice work. Cade Arrambide erased a runner at second on what would have been a wild pitch. Tanner Reaves gloved a hot shot to third. The Tigers did not commit an error. Cowan just filled up the zone and hung goose eggs.
Meanwhile, the Tiger offense was great.
Derek Curiel had three hits, two ringing doubles and a mammoth homer to deep right center. Arrambide and Mason Braun had solid RBI singles through the infield. Reaves pitched in with an RBI hit. Jack Ruckert had a pair of well-struck doubles, one to the alleyway in right center and one down the line in right. William Patrick got a pair of bunts down, one that scored Ruckert from second on an aggressive play in the eighth.
LSU scored in five of its eight at bats and was only retired in order once.
Reagan Ricken’s start was disappointing. He didn’t record an out, walking the leadoff man and hitting the three hole after an infield single. Danny Lachenmayer wiggled out of the bases loaded jam allowing only one run on a sac fly. Ricken threw four strikes in his 13 pitches.
Lachenmayer created his own trouble in the second. He walked the leadoff man on four pitches and allowed a one-out single. That’s when Southeastern slugger Alex Perry tattooed a pitch that dented the scoreboard beyond the bleachers in left for the three-run homer to give Southeastern a 4-2 lead.
From there it was all Tigers in every phase.
Having to rely so heavily on Cowan and Gavin Guidry against these teams from smaller leagues is disheartening, but at least the product on Tuesday from the offense and defense behind those two was solid.
THE SCORECARD
Zac Cowan: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 73 pitches, 45 strikes
Ricken/Lachenmayer/Theophilus: 3 IP, 4 BB, 3 HBP
LSU Overall: 12-for-33 (.364)
LSU with Runners On: 7-for-15 (.467)
LSU with RISP: 6-for-9 (.667)
LSU was 6-for-6 in getting the runner home from third with less than two out.
Derek Curiel: 3-for-4, 2 2B, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI
WHAT’S NEXT
LSU returns home for SEC play as South Carolina comes to Alex Box Stadium for a three-game set. The Gamecocks are 22-24 overall on the season and 7-14 in league play.
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