Bryce Jordan hit a grand slam homer in the sixth inning and Josh Smith followed with a three-run homer in the eighth inning as LSU rallied for a 7-6 victory against Notre Dame in the season-opener at The Box on Friday night.

HOW THEY SCORED

Notre Dame first inning – Cole Daily singled, stole second and advanced to third on a ground out to the shortstop by Jake Johnson. Daily scored when Smith misplayed Nick Podkul’s ground ball. NOTRE DAME 1, LSU 0

Notre Dame third inning – Daily singled and Johnson was hit by a pitch. Daily moved to third and Johnson went to second on a passed ball by Bryce Jordan. Daily and Johnson scored on a single by Podkul. NOTRE DAME 3, LSU 0

Notre Dame fourth inning – Eric Gilgenbach doubled and advanced to third on a ground out to the second baseman by Daniel Jung. Gilgenbach scored on David LaManna’s single. LaManna stole second and moved to third on a ground out to the third baseman by Spencer Myers. LaManna scored on a single by Daily. NOTRE DAME 5, LSU 0

Notre Dame fifth inning – Podkul was hit by a pitch and Matt Vierling singled. Podkul went to third and Vierling advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Niko Kavadas. After Gilgenbach struck out, Podkul scored on a wild pitch by Matthew Beck. NOTRE DAME 6, LSU 0

LSU sixth inning – Antoine Duplantis walked and Zach Watson singled. Daniel Cabrera walked to load the bases. Bryce Jordan hit a grand slam home run over the leftfield fence. NOTRE DAME 6, LSU 4

LSU eighth inning – With one out, Beau Jordan doubled. After Jake Slaughter grounded out to the shortstop, pinch-hitter Chris Reid walked. Smith hit a three-run homer over the rightfield fence.

GAME-DECIDING STRETCH

Two swings of the bat erased the Tigers’ six-run deficit. Bryce Jordan hit a grand slam with no one out in the sixth to put LSU on the scoreboard. In the seventh, the Tigers wasted a two-on, one-out scoring opportunity when Cabrera hit into a 4-6-3 double play. In the eighth, Smith delivered a two-out, three-run homer. Reid batted for Brandt Broussard and drew an important walk just prior to Smith’s home run.

LSU PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Relievers Beck and Austin Bain combined for 4.2 innings of scoreless pitching. Beck allowed an inherited runner to score when he threw a two-out wild pitch in the fifth. Beck hit the firs two batters in the seventh, but he then retired three straight hitters to end the threat. Beck struck out a career-high five batters. Bain threw two scoreless innings to pick up the victory. Bain pitched around an error and a passed ball in the eighth. He struck out Johnson and Podkul with a runner on third base. After the Tigers took the lead on Smith’s homer, Bain retired the side in order in the ninth with two strikeouts. Beck and Bain combined for nine strikeouts.Bain’s comments: “It kind of turned into a blur at one point. I was trying to throw the ball by everybody – as hard I could right through the catcher. ‘Here it is (catcher) Bryce (Jordan). That’s what I was doing.”

KEY TEAM STATISTICS

Hits: Notre Dame 10, LSU 8

Errors: Notre Dame 0, LSU 2

Left on base: Notre Dame 9, LSU 9

Walks issued: LSU 1, Notre Dame 7

Strikeouts recorded: LSU 11, Notre Dame 4

Stolen bases: Notre Dame 4, LSU 1

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

LSU

Antoine Duplantis: 2-for-3, 1 run scored, 2 BB

Nick Webre: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 SB

Bryce Jordan: 1-for-4, 1 run scored, 1 HR, 4 RBIs

Josh Smith: 1-for-4, 1 run scored, 1 HR, 3 RBIs

Caleb Gilbert: 4.1 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 K

Matthew Beck: 2.2 IP, 1 H, 5 K

Austin Bain: 2 IP, 1 BB, 4 K

NOTRE DAME

Cole Daily: 4-for-4, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI, 1 BB

Matt Vierling: 2-for-4

Nick Podkul: 1-for-3, 1 run scored, 2 RBIs

Scott Tully: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K

NOTES

LSU started Cabrera in leftfield, Watson in centerfield and Duplantis in rightfield. The Tigers’ infield consisted of Slaughter at third base, Smith at shortstop, Broussard at second base and Webre at first base. Bryce Jordan was the catcher and Gilbert was the pitcher. Beau Jordan was the designated hitter. . .Webre singled to leftfield in his first LSU at-bat. . .The Tigers were just 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. The two hits were the homers by Bryce Jordan and Smith. . .Gilbert started the game by working out of the stretch. Gilbert had no 1-2-3 inning. Twelve of the 23 batters Gilbert faced reach base – nine hits, two hit batters and one error. . .Bryce Jordan was charged with two passed balls and allowed four stolen bases. He threw out one attempted base stealer and picked a runner off first base. . .Smith committed two errors at shortstop. . .Vierling moved from third base to the mound in the eighth inning with Slaughter at the plate representing the tying run. Vierling entered the game with a two-ball, two-strike count on Slaughter. After getting Slaughter to ground out, Vierling walked Reid and allowed the homer by Smith. . .Notre Dame was 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position. The Irish were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position against Beck (0-for-6) and Bain (0-for-2). . .LSU has won 17 straight season-openers. The Tigers’ last defeat in the first game of the year came against Kansas State (9-8) in 2001 – Skip Bertman’s last season as coach. . .The paid attendance was 12,844 – the largest for a LSU home game. The actual crowd was about 10,500.

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM

Coach Paul Mainieri’s comments: “I thought both Beck and Bain were tremendous. Had Matthew Beck not come in and got some big outs in key situations, we would not have won. There were some other times when both of them were able to wiggle out of some jams. It kept us in the game.”

UP NEXT

LSU will play host to Notre Dame at The Box on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. Central. Zack Hess will be the starting pitcher for the Tigers. The LSU-Notre Dame game will be available on the SEC Digital Network.