It was all going so horribly wrong. After 8 innings of possibly his best outing of the year, Aaron Nola was out in the 9th, going for a complete game shutout. Then he walked the leadoff Aggie. And gave up a single. And a Sac Fly RBI. And another walk. He was finally pulled for closer Joe Broussard, but things got even worse. Walk, WP that scored a run, and a 2 RBI single. Suddenly, Nola's performance is erased and the bases are full of Aggies. 3B Blake Allemand, who was hitless on the night, came up in the dream situation of every batter. Get it down anywhere and the game is over. He makes contact and sends an absolute bomb to the left corner.
Good thing Jared Foster, who came in to replace a Chinea pinch hit in the 8th, is a superior human being.
Foster's dive on a prayer saves the night, and prevents a fantastic outing by Nola from being wasted. The Tigers would pull ahead in the T10 when Stevenson scored from 3B on a grounder to the mound by Mr Clutch himself, Mark Laird. The Aggies would load the bases again in the B10, but McCune held on for the victory, 6-5.
Here's your Box Score, full game highlights below. The LSU-A&M series continues on Saturday at Noon on ESPN2 and the Sunday finale at 1pm on ESPNU.
Jared Foster Postgame Interview viaThe Advocate
.@JFoster_1317 dive comes in at #1 pic.twitter.com/KcqLNU7nhn
— Pod Katt (@valleyshook) May 3, 2014