Rewind: LSU 10, Air Force 3

Kramer Robertson had three hits and Greg Deichmann and Josh Smith hit homers in a six-run fourth inning as LSU defeated Air Force 10-3 in a non-conference game at The Box on Sunday afternoon.

HOW THEY SCORED

Air Force fourth inning – With one out, Nic Ready singled and Tyler Jones walked. Ready scored and Jones advanced to third when the third baseman Smith made a bad throw to second on Bradley Haslam’s ground ball. Jones scored on a single by Tyler Zabojink. AIR FORCE 2, LSU 0

LSU fourth inning – Robertson singled and Deichmann hit a two-run homer over the rightfield fence. Jake Slaughter singled. Bryce Adams struck out and Slaughter went to second on Beau Jordan’s ground out to the third baseman. After Michael Papierski singled, Smith hit a three-run homer over the rightfield fence. Cole Freeman doubled and scored from second on a wild pitch by Jacob Devreis. LSU 6, AIR FORCE 2

Air Force sixth inning – With two out, Jones hit a home run off the leftfield foul pole. LSU 6, AIR FORCE 3

LSU sixth inning – With two out, Smith walked and stole second base. Smith scored on a single by Freeman. LSU 7, AIR FORCE 3

LSU seventh inning – Robertson singled and stole second base. Deichamann walked. Robertson advanced to third on a bad throw by catcher Rob Dau on a pickoff play at first base. Robertson scored on a single by Slaughter. LSU 8 AIR FORCE 3

LSU eighth inning – With one out, pinch-hitter Rankin Woley walked and Duplantis reached safely on an error by the third baseman Ready. Woley and Duplantis scored on a double by Robertson. LSU 10, AIR FORCE 3

KEY STRETCH OF GAME

For the second consecutive game, LSU did nothing at the plate in the early innings. After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the fourth, the Tigers answered with six runs in their half of the inning. The two big hits were a two-run homer by Deichmann and a three-run homer by Smith.

KEY TEAM STATISTICS

LSU had 11 hits with six coming in the six-run fourth inning. Air Force only had four hits. . .The Falcons made two errors, while the Tigers committed one. . .LSU stranded seven runners – five in scoring position. LSU was 5-for-16 with runners in scoring position. . .The Tigers stole four bases.

INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS

LSU

Kramer Robertson: 3-for-5, 2 RBIs, 2 runs scored, 1 double

Greg Deichmann: 2-for-3, 2 RBIs, 1 home run, 1 run scored

Cole Freeman: 2-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 run scored, 1 double

Jake Slaughter: 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 run scored

Josh Smith: 1-for-3, 3 RBIs, 2 runs scored, 1 home run

Eric Walker: 5 innings, 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts

AIR FORCE

Tyler Jones: 1-for-3, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI, 1 home run

Jacob Devreis: 4 innings, 6 hits, 6 runs, 6 earned runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts

LSU’S PLAYER OF THE GAME

Robertson was the first Tigers player to have three hits in a game this year. He opened LSU’s six-run sixth-inning with a single. Robertson had a leadoff single, stole second and scored on Slaughter’s single in the seventh. Then, he had a two-run double to cap the scoring in the eighth. For the weekend, Robertson was 5-for-9 with four RBIs and four runs scored.

NOTES

The lineup was the same as the second game of the doubleheader against Army with Jordan in leftfield against the lefthanded pitcher Devries. . .After beginning his freshman season with a 19-game hitting streak, Duplantis is 0-for-12 to begin this year. . .Three LSU players had hits in each of the three weekend games – Freeman, Deichmann and Slaughter. Freeman had two hits in all three games. . .Freshman Zack Hess was the only Tigers relief pitcher to allow a run – on Jones’ homer. Freshman Todd Peterson, Doug Norman and Hunter Newman each threw a scoreless inning. . .Home plate umpire Ray Miller was forced to leave the game in the top of the fifth inning after being hit on his head by the bat of Dau on a back swing. . .The Tigers have begun their season at 3-0 for the ninth consecutive year. Air Force is 2-2. . .Caleb Gilbert will be the starting pitcher for LSU at UNO on Tuesday. . .The paid attendance was 11,129.

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM

Coach Paul Mainieri’s comments: “Eric Walker was perfect for 3.1 innings with five strikeouts. Then, they got to him a little bit. He babied up a change-up on a 3-2 pitch. In the SEC, you can’t make pitches like that. He needs to get better. Zack Hess had trouble with his command. We wanted to break the ice for him before his opportunity to start Wednesday (against Hofstra).”

UP NEXT

LSU will play UNO at First NBC Ballpark in New Orleans on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Central. The Privateers (3-0) defeated Prairie View 14-0 on Sunday afternoon in New Orleans. The LSU-UNO game will be available on Cox Sports Television.