Rewind: LSU 13, Grambling 2
Zach Watson had three hits, including a two-run homer, as LSU defeated Grambling 13-2 in a non-conference game at The Box on Tuesday night.
HOW THEY SCORED
Grambling first inning – Marshawn Taylor singled and advanced to third on a wild pickoff throw by pitcher Todd Peterson. After Wesley Drain struck out, Taylor scored on a throwing error by third baseman Chris Reid on Daniel Barnett’s ground ball. Barnett, who moved to second on Reid’s error, went to third base on a wild pitch by Peterson. After Travarus Bell walked, Barnett scored on a single by Johan Mojica. GRAMBLING 2, LSU 0
LSU first inning – Cole Freeman walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Christian Marquez. Freeman scored on a single by Kramer Robertson. GRAMBLING 2, LSU 1
LSU third inning – Jordan Romero singled and moved to second on a ground out to the pitcher by Rankin Woley. Romero scored on Jake Slaughter’s single. Slaughter went to second on the throw to the plate and advanced to third on a throwing error by rightfielder Nick Wheeler. Slaughter scored on a sacrifice fly to the centerfielder by Reid. LSU 3, GRAMBLING 2
LSU fourth inning – Watson tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly to the leftfielder by Freeman. LSU 4, GRAMBLING 2
LSU sixth inning – Reid was hit by a pitch. After Beau Jordan was ruled out for running outside the runner’s box between home plate and first base, Watson hit a two-run homer over the leftfield fence. Freeman singled and scored on a two-run homer by Robertson over the leftfield fence. Greg Deichmann singled and moved to third on a double by Romero. Deichmann and Romero scored on Woley’s double. Woley scored on a single by Slaughter. LSU 11, GRAMBLING 2
LSU seventh inning – With one out, Freeman reached second base when leftfielder Jonathan Weatherspoon missed his fly ball. After Robertson grounded out the third baseman, pinch-hitter Bryce Adams hit a two-run homer over the leftfield bleachers. LSU 13, GRAMBLING 2
KEY STRETCH OF GAME
The bats came alive in the sixth inning when LSU scored seven times to break open the game. Watson and Robertson both hit two-run homers and Woley had a two-run double. The other run was driven home on a single by Slaughter. The Tigers had seven consecutive hits in the inning as they took an 11-2 lead.
KEY TEAM STATISTICS
LSU outhit Grambling 15-6. LSU had six extra-base hits – two doubles, one triple and three home runs. . .LSU hit three sacrifice flies. . .There were five errors in the game – three by Grambling and two by LSU. All three Grambling errors were made by outfielders. . .LSU pitchers walked three and struck out ten.
INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS
LSU
Zach Watson: 3-for-3, 2 RBIs, 2 runs scored, 1 triple, 1 home run
Jordan Romero: 2-for-4, 2 runs scored, 1 double
Jake Slaughter: 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 run scored
Greg Deichmann: 2-for-4, 1 run scored
Kramer Robertson: 2-for-5, 3 RBIs, 1 run scored, 1 home run
Bryce Adams: 1-for-1, 2 RBIs, 1 run scored, 1 home run
Cole Freeman: 1-for-3, 3 runs scored, 1 RBI
Rankin Woley: 1-for-5, 2 RBIs, 1 run scored, 1 double
Todd Peterson: 1 innings, 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
GRAMBLING
Marshawn Taylor: 2-for-4, 1 run scored
Christian Marquez: 0 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 1 walk
LSU’S PLAYER OF THE GAME
Watson matched his season-high with three hits in a game as he came up a double shy of reaching the cycle. Watson singled in the second, tripled to lead off the fourth and hit a two-run homer in the sixth. Watson was lifted for a pinch-hitter to start the seventh. Watson has hit safely in seven of his last eight games. In that span, Watson is 10-for-25 (.400).
Watson’s comments: “It felt amazing. I told Cole Freeman before the home run that I was going to try to hit this one out of here. ‘I’m 2-for-2 and I’m going for it.’ It felt good for all of us hitting again. We were having fun and there was no stress. We just needed to settle down.”
NOTES
Leftfielder Antoine Duplantis, third baseman Josh Smith and catcher Michael Papierski were given the night off. Beau Jordan started in leftfield with Woley serving as the designated hitter. Reid replaced Smith at third base. Romero made his first start of the year at catcher. Smith did enter the game as a pinch-runner in the sixth and went into the game at third base. . .Reid was the only starter without a hit. He reached base on a walk and a hit-by-pitch. In his other plate appearance, he hit a sacrifice fly. . .Peterson has allowed at least one run in six of his last eight appearances. Only one of those outings lasted more than one inning. . .Caleb Gilbert was the first Tigers reliever. He gave up a hit and struck out one in his inning. . .Nine other LSU pitchers worked in the game. Russell Reynolds and Zack Hess were the only pitchers to retire three consecutive batters. . .Hunter Newman was the only relief pitcher not to appear in the game. . .The losing pitcher was Daniel Beizer, who replaced Marquez in the first inning. Beizer allowed six runs and seven hits in 5.1 innings. . .LSU is 20-10, while Grambling is 9-19. . .The paid attendance was 9,883. The actual crowd was about 2,600. . .Alex Lange will be the starting pitcher for LSU against Arkansas on Friday.
FROM THE LOCKERROOM
Coach Paul Mainieri’s comments: “We had a little bit of a rocky start in the first inning. There was an infield single and we threw a ball away. Then, it took us a while to get going at the plate. We finally started to get some clutch hits. Some of our guys had a tough time picking the ball up against their side-arm pitcher (Beizer). It was nice to see us swing the bats with some aggressiveness.”
UP NEXT
LSU will play Arkansas at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Central. The Razorbacks (22-6) had their game with Grand Canyon suspended by rain in the second inning in Fayetteville on Tuesday night. Arkansas and Grand Canyon will resume that game and play the regularly-scheduled game Wednesday. The LSU-Arkansas game will be available on the SEC Digital Network.