No. 1 LSU wins its fourth SEC series when White turns the other cheek
LSU third baseman Tommy White has won plenty of games in his baseball life with his bat.
Saturday in Alex Box Stadium, he won one with his butt.
White, college baseball’s RBI leader, drove in the game-winning run in the eighth inning when he was plunked in his rear end by a bases-loaded pitch as the No. 1 Tigers edged No. 11 Kentucky 7-6 to win their fourth SEC series of the year.
LSU reliever Bryce Collins, who pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, gave up a hit in the UK ninth but closed out the Wildcats with no more damage.
It ended a monumental battle between the Tigers (29-6 overall, 9-5 SEC West) and UK (28-7, 10-5 SEC East). There were three ties and a lead change as both teams used five pitchers emptying their bullpens.
"To just gut that thing out and find a way to win that game is a credit to our team," LSU head coach Jay Johnson said. "Every time they (Kentucky) scored today, we answered. We just did enough.
"We kept taking bases and then moved the ball enough with runners in scoring position. On the pitching side, we walked a lot of guys. Other than that, they bent but they didn't break."
Both starting pitchers – LSU’s Christian Little and UK’s Tyler Bosma – lasted 3.1 innings.
The Tigers touched Bosma for a 2-0 lead. First baseman Jared Jones hit solo homer in the second inning and a throwing error by UK third baseman Jase Felker on a White grounder added an LSU run in the third.
The Tigers desperately needed a competitive outing from its game 3 starter in an SEC series, something the Tigers hadn’t gotten this season.
Johnson decided to give Vanderbilt transfer Little in his first start in a league game after three consecutive starts in non-conference contests.
Little retired nine straight batters, then opened UK fourth by throwing 12 of his 16 pitches for balls. Freshman reliever Gavin Guidry entered and immediately threw a wild pitch that allowed UK centerfielder Jackson Gray with the Wildcats’ first run. Guidry, though, got out of the inning with no more damage.
Kentucky tied the game 2-2 in top of the fifth on Gray’s sacrifice grounder, then LSU re-took the lead at 3-2 on White's ground ball RBI.
The Wildcats opened the sixth with consecutive singles off LSU reliever Riley Cooper, who was replaced by Thatcher Hurd. The UCLA transfer gave up a game-tying RBI grounder to right fielder Nolan McCarthy.
Yet LSU jumped back ahead at 4-3 in its half of the sixth on Jones’ second solo homer, a 453-foot shot over the left-centerfield wall.
Hurd, who had previously allowed 12 runs (all earned) on 12 hits as LSU’s SEC series game 3 starter, finally imploded in his relief role.
In the UK seventh starting at top of the Wildcats’ batting order, Hurd gave up three hits including first baseman Hunter Gilliam’s one-out two-RBI double and Felker’s one-out RBI single for a 6-4 Wildcats' lead.
The Tigers dug in their heels in the bottom of the seven against Zack Lee, UK’s second reliever. Back-to-back two-out hits – shortstop Jordan Thompson’s RBI double and designated hitter Cade Beloso’s one-run single -- tied the game again at 6-6.
UK had scored runs for four straight innings by getting the leadoff batter on base with walks in the fourth and fifth innings and hits in the sixth and seventh.
But in the Kentucky eighth, LSU’s Collins struck out UK’s McCarthy to open the inning, then retired two of the next three batters for UK’s first scoreless and hitless inning since the third.
LSU worked Lee and then Evan Byers, UK’s fourth reliever, into a two-out bases loaded jam in the Tigers’ eighth.
With LSU right fielder Brayden Jobert on third base, catcher Alex Milazzo on second base and center fielder Dylan Crews on first after being intentionally walked, Byers’ first pitch to White plunked him in his rear end.
White glared at Byers, flipped his bat and began his walk to first base as Jobert trotted across the plate for what proved to be the game-winning run.