LSU Endures 16 Inning Madness in Hoover, Wins 8-5

It might as well have been 2 separate games. LSU spent almost the entirety of the first game of it's series against Alabama failing to capitalize on great start by Jared Poché. Despite giving up a home run in the 1st to Mikey White, Poché was having one of his best outings in weeks, cruising through 8 IP giving up just 3 hits, 2 walks, and striking out 6. Unfortunately, Bama's starter Taylor Guilbeau had had a better night, giving up no runs on 3 hits and 3 walks until the crucial 9th inning. Down to their last outs, Alex Bregman hit a double followed by a Connor Hale single to put two runners in scoring position with 0 outs. Bama yanked Guilbeau, but it would prove to be too late. An RBI single by Kade Scivicque and a sac fly by Andrew Stevenson gave LSU it's first runs of the night and it looked like LSU was going to steal a quick, sub-2 hour win on the road in Hoover.

But the madness was just beginning. A series of failures by the LSU bullpen and continued efforts by the lineup would cause the Tigers and Tide to trade seeming knockout blows for another 3 hours. Jesse Stallings blew the save immediately with a lead off triple and sac fly. Chinea hit an absolute bomb of a 2 run home run to nearly dead center in the Hoover Met, but Zac Person loaded the bases and Parker Bugg gave up a walk and a bizzare balk to allow Bama to tie it back up. A Beau Jordan RBI double in the 13th was matched by a Kyle Overstreet RBI single. Jordan would also prevent a score with amazing backwards diving catch and throw from left for a double play in the 14th. Finally in the 16th with 2 on, Hale knocked a line drive past the Bama left fielder and into the corner for a 2 RBI triple followed by a Mike Papierski sac fly to give the Tigers enough distance. Doug Norman stayed in for the last of his 3 IP to hang on for the nearly 5 and 1/2 hour victory.

While it was troubling to see Stallings have another rough outing and a combined 3 blown saves for the bullpen, there is something to be said about the emotional boost winning a game like this, especially on the road, can bring to a team. There's going to be a worry the rest of the weekend about who's left to bring in after Zac Person and Parker Bugg used their normal output for the weekend among the 7 LSU pitchers used, but Bama's got the same problem after using 7 pitchers of their own. And the Tide didn't get a win out of this. Hopefully this afternoon Alex Lange can go the distance and give the Tigers some recovery time.

Score by Innings                              R  H  E
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LSU................. 000 000 002 020 100 3 -  8 12  1
Alabama............. 100 000 001 020 100 0 -  5 10  1
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Box Score