LSU offense puts up 13 hits in 8-6 elimination victory over South Carolina
It wasn’t always pretty but LSU was able to survive and advance against the No. 12 seed South Carolina Gamecocks as the Tigers put up 13 hits in a 8-6 win.
Freshman pitcher Cole Henry made his much awaited return to the LSU starting lineup, and after missing four starts, looked like he didn’t miss a beat, particularly from a velocity standpoint. Consistently hitting 91 and 93 mph on his fastball was a good sign from Henry, who struck out three batters in nearly two innings of work
Henry got unlucky on a few funky back-to-back plays in the second as Brandt Broussard made a nice one out stop at second but the ball got stuck in his glove. That was followed by a catcher’s interference on an attempted pickoff play to second that put runners on first and second.
The Gamecocks were able to capitalize with a one double in the left centerfield gap that would bring home two runs and a two out RBI single that would end Henry’s night in the second inning, lasting 42 pitches.
Matthew Beck would finally end the inning but not before South Carolina would put two more runs on the board to take a 5-1 advantage.
The LSU defense didn’t do the pitchers many favors as the Tigers committed three errors in the first five innings alone, two of them on third baseman Hal Hughes.
After a second Hughes error in the fifth inning, infield teammate Broussard continued his strong defensive outing bailed with a leaping grab on a hard line drive that left the Gamecock runner in no man’s land, leading to a self turned double play.
The expectation entering the game was that scoring would not be all that difficult for LSU, facing a South Carolina team with the highest team ERA in the Southeastern Conference. It only took two pitches into the game for shortstop Josh Smith to spot a pitch he liked and he drove into the Hoover forests behind right field to put the Tigers up 1-0.
Trailing 5-1 in the second and in need of some momentum, the Tigers were able to load the bases for freshman Cade Beloso, who dropped a single into right field that brought in two runs and put some life back into the LSU faithful at the Hoover Met.
The two run inning forced Gamecock starter Cam Tringali out of the game as the offense continued to pour it on with four hits and three runs in the fourth inning to take a 6-5 lead. LSU would have five batters with at least two hits on the evening with freshman DH Cade Beloso leading the team with three RBI while senior Antoine Duplantis tacked on two hits with an RBI.
After five runs were scored by South Carolina in two innings, coach Paul Mainieri turned the ball over to sophomore reliever Devin Fontenot, who threw four shutout innings as the Tigers climbed their way back into the game.
Fontenot admitted to reporters a few weeks back that he had lost his competitive edge but after firing his fourth strikeout to end the sixth, the sophomore could be heard screaming and fist pumping his way to the dugout.
The Tigers will be in for another late night on Wednesday when they face No. 4 seed Mississippi State with a time yet to be determined and Eric Walker on the mound.