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baseball Edit

Tigers answer Mainieri’s challenge

LSU had wasted another spectacular outing from Alex Lange in the series opener against South Caroline at The Box less than 24 hours earlier.

Cole Freeman
Cole Freeman

Tigers senior second baseman Cole Freeman received a text from coach Paul Mainieri during the day Saturday. The message was simple. It was time for Freeman as a veteran leader to step up for LSU in the second game of the series after losing the first contest 3-2.

For the first half of the series with the Gamecocks, Tigers batters were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. That drought was broken by Freeman, who put LSU ahead with a two-run triple. Freeman then scored on a sacrifice fly to put the Tigers on top 3-1.

LSU evened the series with a 5-2 victory against South Carolina that night. Then, the Tigers grinded out a 7-6 victory in ten innings to win the rubber game of the series Sunday.

LSU exhibited grit and determination in the series finale. Trailing 5-4, the Tigers got a RBI single from Zach Watson with two out in the eighth. Trailing 6-5, LSU got a run-scoring single from Greg Deichmann in the ninth. With the score tied at 6-6, the Tigers got a RBI single from Antoine Duplantis in the tenth.

In addition, shortstop Kramer Robertson made an outstanding relay throw to cut down a Gamecocks runner at the plate in the top of the tenth. Zack Hess stranded runners in scoring position in both the ninth and tenth innings.

However, it all started with the line drive triple by Freeman Saturday night.

“I took (Mainieri’s) message well,” Freeman said. “It was cool that he thought that highly of me. He wanted somebody to step up and he wanted it to be me. A coach has to know what type of player he is dealing with. Coach Mainieri knows that I respond to that and I will rise up when I can.

“This was a big game for us and he needed somebody to step up. He told me that this was a big part of the year and it would make or break us. Now, I could have gotten that hit even without the text. I would have been as focused if coach had not sent me that text.”

LSU found a way to win the series two games to one. All three of those games could have gone either way. The Tigers played fairly well. They batted .304 as a team. Duplantis had six hits – five coming in the Sunday game. Watson had five hits and drove home four runs.

Freeman and Watson were the only players to get a hit in each game of the series. But, five players had at least four hits over the weekend – Duplantis (6-for-12), Watson (5-for-10), Michael Papierksi (4-for-11), Robertson (4-for-12) and Freeman (4-for-13).

The Tigers received quality starts from Lange and Jared Poche although they won only one of those two games. Eric Walker gave up five runs in five innings Sunday, but the LSU bullpen gave up only one run and two hits over the final five innings.

“We had a good series win against a real good team,” Mainieri said. “Several guys responded this weekend for us to win two of three games. As a coach, you have to find the players whose buttons can be pushed. Sometimes, a little bit more sense of urgency is needed.”

The Tigers entered the South Carolina series in a four-way tie for fourth place – one game behind Auburn, Kentucky and Mississippi State. LSU made up two games on Auburn and one game on Kentucky. The Tigers lost ground to one contender – Florida, which swept three games from Ole Miss.

Heading into this week’s series against Auburn at The Box, LSU is tied with Kentucky for third place – one game behind Florida and Mississippi State. Kentucky, Florida and Mississippi State play the bottom three teams in the standings – Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, respectively.

However, the results of last weekend indicated that teams’ won-loss record means little. Auburn lost three games at home to Alabama, which had lost 19 of 21 SEC games. Kentucky dropped two of three games at home to Georgia, which had lost 16 of 21 SEC games.

“The Auburn-Alabama series and the Kentucky-Georgia series illustrate what I’ve said all year,” Mainieri said. “Anybody can beat anybody in this league. I know those coaches (at Kentucky, Florida and Mississippi State) aren’t taking things lightly this week.

“What Auburn did vs. Alabama will have no effect on what happens this weekend. I don’t think in terms of we have to beat these guys or we should beat those guys. We have to play with intensity, play with focus and hit in the clutch. If we don’t do it, the other team will win the game.”

LSU will play South Alabama on Tuesday (6:30 p.m. Central/SEC Digital Network) before beginning the Auburn series Thursday. The Jaguars (30-18) are just off the NCAA tournament bubble at this time.

Here are the remaining conference schedules for the top SEC contenders.

FLORIDA (16-8): at Alabama, Kentucky

MISSISSIPPI STATE (16-8): at Georgia, LSU

KENTUCKY (15-9): Tennessee, at Florida

LSU (15-9): Auburn, at Mississippi State

ARKANSAS (14-9): Vanderbilt, at Texas A&M

AUBURN (14-10): at LSU, Ole Miss

TEXAS A&M (14-10): at Ole Miss, Arkansas

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