LSU able to avoid sweep with 3-2 comeback win over No. 4 Arkansas
LSU was able to salvage its series against No. 4 Arkansas with a 3-2 comeback win capped off by a timely swing from one of its veterans.
The win snaps a five game losing streak for the Tigers dating back to game two of the Ole Miss series last week.
When Antoine Duplantis stepped to the plate with two on and one away in the eighth, LSU was in the midst of another poor offensive showing, on the verge of being shut out. Instead, the senior ripped his ninth homerun of the year to give the team a 3-2 lead that the Tigers would hold on to for dear life in the final frame.
Duplantis also made a little history amongst the LSU inconsistent play, moving into second all time for career hits by an LSU hitter, passing Blake Dean and now trails leader Eddy Furniss by 19 hits heading into the final week of the regular season.
It wasn’t all roses for Duplantis Sunday, who was so frustrated with himself over a popout in the sixth inning, that the cameras caught him pounding his fist into his helmet in disgust.
The Tigers (31-21, 15-12) did some major shuffling for the series finale against the Razorbacks including replacing centerfielder Zach Watson for Giovanni DiGiacomo in what coach Paul Mainieri called a “coach’s decision.” In addition to Watson, Chris Reid made a move to first base, replacing injured Cade Beloso and Hal Hughes was inserted at third base.
Reid, who had never played first base in his career, made an instinctive play in the second inning, tagging out Casey Martin at first base when he noticed the Razorback was about to make a turn to second base before ultimately trying to return to first base.
The play seemed to spark the LSU defense including a Josh Smith and Brandt Broussard turned double play on a ball headed up the middle when Arkansas had two runners on base with nobody out in the fourth inning.
After surrendering 25 runs in the first two games, the LSU pitching staff, starting with Landon Marceaux, had something to prove. Marceaux’s outing didn’t start off great, walking the first batter of the game and allowing that run to come across for a 1-0 deficit after one inning.
The freshman, earning his 10th start on the mound, was able to find the strike zone with consistency, allowing his defense to make the necessary plays. Marceaux was under constant pressure to keep the score low as the offense tried to gain any sort of rhythm.
Marceaux was tagged for back-to-back doubles in the sixth, followed by a walk, leading to an insurance run and Mainieri putting Todd Peterson on the mound. Peterson was able to go the distance and not allow a run over the final four innings.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Peterson forced to groundballs back to homeplate, one turned for a double play to escape the sixth with just one run allowed, making it 2-0 and nine outs for the offense to get going.
A major story this season is how the offense and the defense can’t seemingly get on the same page, during this five game skid in particular, and Saturday the narrative continued. LSU was not able to put any real pressure on Arkansas starter Connor Nolan, who needed only 61 pitches to get through five innings.
The offense had multiple chances to get runs across but ultimately strikeouts and weak ground balls ended threats as the Tigers left five runners on base before the three-run eighth inning.
Noland was pulled in the sixth inning with Hal Hughes on second base and one out in the inning. LSU was able to move Hughes all the way to third base, but unable to bring the sophomore home with a popout from Duplantis and a lineout from Daniel Cabrera.
LSU ends the regular season with a midweek game against UNO on Tuesday and followed by a series with Auburn starting Thursday from Alex Box.