LSU holds off late Alabama rally as top-ranked Tigers win series opener
No. 1 LSU leaned on two of its strengths Friday night to open its seventh SEC series of the season with a win.
The Tigers scored six runs in two-out situations and the pitching combo of starter Paul Skenes and reliever Griffin Herring combined for 14 strikeouts and two walks in an 8-6 victory over Alabama in Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (33-8 overall, 13-5 in SEC West) and the Crimson Tide (30-13, 9-10 SEC West) meet in game two Saturday at 6 p.m.
Skenes and Herring almost mirrored their performances from last Friday’s 7-3 win at Ole Miss when Skenes went the first six innings and Herring handled the last three as LSU’s bats provided support with six runs in the first five innings.
Against Alabama, Skenes, college baseball’s strikeout leader, improved to 8-1 by striking out nine with no walks in his six-inning, 109-pitch performance as LSU scored seven runs in the first six innings.
He allowed five hits and one run, a fourth inning leadoff solo homer by Alabama right fielder Andrew Pinckney, tied a UA school record with five hits for the night. It was just the fourth homer allowed by Skenes this season and marked the first time he gave up a homer in consecutive appearances.
"Everything is just pitch execution," Skenes said when asked how he judges his performances. "There were some pitches that they hit with two strikes that I thought were pretty executed today. All you can do is control what you're doing. Sometimes they're gonna beat you and you have to be okay with that. So that's that's something that I really emphasize when I'm analyzing my outings."
Herring gave up five runs (four in the ninth inning) and six hits while striking out five and walking two in 2.2 innings. Reliever Bryce Collins entered to get the save in closing out the Crimson Tide.
While LSU scored six runs in two-out situations -- 35 percent of Tigers' run scored this season have been with two outs -- LSU also left 10 runners on base including two or more in the last four innings.
"When you get a lot of guys on base - we're in the top three in the country in on-base percentage -- you're going to leave a lot of guys on," LSU head coach Jay Johnson said. "However, there's a few more at bats that if they were a little bit more quality, and maybe guys staying within themselves how we typically do, then I think we could have opened up the game a little bit more."
LSU established a 4-0 lead on third baseman Tommy White’s solo homer in the second followed by center fielder Dylan Crews’ two-out, three-run homer in the third inning.
Crews' homer came after he struck out in his first at-bat looking at a pitch from Alabama starting pitcher Hagan Banks that appeared to just wide of the strike zone.
"He was able to get a fastball down in the zone for strike three," said Crews, who went 2 for 4 with four RBI. "I was able to adjust for that second AB (at bat) and get something I l liked to drive. It just kept going. It must have caught some wind up there. It creeped out."
The Crimson Tide pulled starting pitcher Hagan Banks after three innings, replacing him with Kade Woods.
The redshirt freshman from Monroe’s Ouachita High kept the Tigers off the scoreboard in the fourth and fifth inning. He escaped a one-out bases-loaded jam in the fifth by getting Crews to fly out to right field and White to ground out to shortstop.
Banks exited with two outs in the seventh after he walked LSU catcher Alex Milazzo to load the bases.
New Crimson Tide lefty reliever Aidan Moza imploded from his very first pitch that hit Tigers’ second baseman Gavin Dugas, scoring designated hitter Cade Beloso.Moza followed by walking left fielder Tre’ Morgan and Crews both on 3-2 pitches, forcing home two more runs for 7-1 lead.
Finally, White’s drive to left field was snared for the third out as LSU left the bases loaded for the second straight inning.
Milazzo’s perfectly placed sacrifice RBI bunt extended the Tigers’ lead to 8-1 in the seventh.
Alabama put together a four-run rally in the ninth off Herring before Collins slammed the door shut.
"We obviously didn't pitch well enough out of the bullpen at the end," Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon said. "If we pitch a lot better from the sixth inning on, it's a different ballgame."