LSU routes Stony Brook 17-3 on Antoine Duplantis' historic night
If any LSU fans strode into Alex Box stadium Friday night with a nervous, unsure feeling, those emotions were quickly put to rest as the Tigers demolished Stony Brook 17-3 in an offensive explosion with a little history mixed in.
As senior Antoine Duplantis made his stride to the batter’s box in the sixth inning, those who have followed the team closely knew the implications of the at bat. A 21-year old record hung in the balance for the junior Duplantis, who had already collected hit No. 351 on a single to opposite field that drove in his second and third RBI of the game.
Like clockwork, Duplantis delivered that same hit that has become routine for the senior in his illustrious four year career at LSU, a single to opposite field. As the voice of Alex Box, Bill Franques, went to the loudspeaker to announce the achievement, he quickly realized that wasn’t needed.
The Alex Box faithful were already on their feet, cheering on the quiet kid from Lafayette, that has spent his career leading the best way he knows how, by example.
Coach Paul Mainieri didn’t mince his words when he called Duplantis the “poster child” of the LSU program.
“When you’re a coach and you work with young people, it’s not an egotistical way but you feel like you were a part of it,” Mainieri said. “You’re proud for that young man and not just because of the 352 hits. He comes everyday, he’s the same Antoine. He works hard in practice, plays the games the same way and he’s been the perfect role model for our program. I love him to death and I’m going to miss him terribly when I know I don’t get to coach him anymore.”
Despite having it in the back of his head, Duplantis said he’s all about the team and was only focused on trying to do everything he could to help get the win. For Duplantis, having his family, friends, teammates and coaches there to witness his accomplishment meant more to him than actually breaking the record.
“It was great and I was fortunate enough to have a ton of people in the stands today,” Duplantis said. “It was just a special moment.”
Stony Brook elected to shift the defense towards right field for the lefty Duplantis and teammate Josh Smith. After a first inning groundout, Duplantis said the goal was to attack the open left side of the field, which is something he has all too much experience doing as the program's newest hit king.
"Coach Mainieri got on me and said I'm so hard headed for not just taking that hit in the six hole," Duplantis said. "Those next two at bats I had that in my mind, looking for a pitch I could push over there and luckily I got them."
The teams traded errors in the first inning, both directly leading to one run a piece. The difference was between pitchers as Landon Marceaux remained calm while Stony Brook starter Greg Marino completely lost the strike zone.
Marino issued two walks and hit Cade Beloso on the foot to load the bases for catcher Saul Garza. Garza, who came in batting 16-for-30 in his last nine games, drilled a hard ground ball down the right field line to clear the bases and put the Tigers up 4-1.
An RBI single from second baseman Brandt Broussard would end the inning after Broussard tried to stretch a single into a double but the damage was done and the Box was loving every second of it.
Garza went 3-for-4 with three RBI while Broussard was able to collect his first homerun as a Tiger in route to a 3-for-4 day with four RBI.
The LSU offense ran Marino out of the game only four outs into his outing after walking his third batter of the game which was promptly followed by an RBI single from Duplantis, the 350th career hit for the senior.
The Seawolves were tagged for four more runs in the second inning to completely blow the game open. The 17 runs scored for the game by the Tigers are the most in an NCAA tournament since 2008, when LSU beat Cal Irvine 21-7 in a Super Regional outing.
Marceaux on the other hand needed only 32 pitches to get through three innings of work as the freshman allowed no earned runs and three hits in that span. The freshman pitched five innings of near perfect baseball, allowing one run on seven hits with three strikeouts before being replaced by Ma’Khail Hilliard.
Mainieri also elected to get reliever Trent Vietmeier some work after coming back from a sore shoulder that kept him out of the rotation for three weeks. Vietmeier threw a scoreless seventh inning and with his return, only strengthens an already stout bullpen.
LSU will now take on Southern Miss tomorrow at 6 p.m. with freshman Cole Henry on the mound.