Tigers Hold Off Bulldogs 4-3, Sweep Weekend Series With Bryant

The Tigers got off to another hot start on Sunday, looking to sweep the Bryant Bulldogs and keep their record perfect on the young season. Lead off back-to-back singles and a sacrifice by Antoine Duplantis put 2 in scoring position immediately. Bryant gave Daniel Cabrera the intentional free pass to load the bases and Saul Garza made them pay for it with a sac fly into the driving wind in center to score 1. Gavin Dugas followed that up with an RBI single to left center, but he tried to stretch it into a double and was easily thrown out.

The game then progressed at a pretty quick clip as the wind blowing in from center to right killed a lot of balls in the air. Bryant figured out early that it was a day for the ground game. In the 4th inning, Jimmy Titus got on with a walk, stole second, moved to 3rd on a ground ball out, then came home a double into left by Sam Owens. LSU answered with a score in the bottom of the inning as Bryant turned a double play attempt on a ground ball by Brock Mathis into a throw towards the LSU dugout, scoring Dugas from 2nd. LSU started the top of the 6th with Matthew Beck on the mound, and Bryant used 2 more stolen bases, a passed ball, and RBI singles from Owens and Gaby Cruz to even the score at 3-3. Coach Mainieri pulled Beck after the .2 IP outing for Aaron George who would strike out 3 while facing the minimum in 1.1 IP of work, enough to earn the win.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the 7th. With 2 outs, Zach Watson got on with a ground ball single into center. With Antoine Duplantis at the plate, Watson stole second, then came home on a line drive into the right corner, avoiding a tag at the plate. With a 1 run lead, Todd Peterson took over for the save. He only struck out one and allowed 2 hits, but that was enough to keep Bryant off the board and secure the sweep.

LSU Starting pitcher Jaden Hill had a good outing, but only went 5.0 IP and threw 85 pitches. He held Bryant to 1 run on 2 hits and was aided by 6 outs on pop fly balls in the blowing wind. More concerning in the battery was the tough day Brock Mathis had catching, as Bryant stole 6 bases and advanced on 2 passed balls.

LSU has two midweek games against South Alabama and Southern before heading out on the season’s first road trip, a weekend in Austin, Texas against the #23 6-2 Texas Longhorns.