Rewind: Texas AM 3, LSU 2

Cole Lankford singled home Krey Bratsen in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Texas A&M a 3-2 victory against LSU in a Southeastern Conference game Saturday afternoon at Blue Bell Park in College Station.

HOW THEY SCORED

Texas A&M first inning - Blake Allemand singled and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Patrick McLendon. Allemand scored on a single by Lankford. TEXAS A&M 1, LSU 0

Texas A&M second inning - Nick Banks doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch by Jared Poche. After Mitchell Nau grounded out to shortstop Alex Bregman, Banks scored on a single by Ryne Birk. TEXAS A&M 2, LSU 0

LSU fourth inning - With one out, Kade Scivicque doubled. Scivicque scored on a triple by Conner Hale. A wild pitch by Daniel Mengden on a third strike to Tyler Moore enabled Hale to score. LSU 2, TEXAS A&M 2

Texas A&M ninth inning - Bratsen singled. Allemand walked. A single by McLendon loaded the bases. Bratsen scored on a single by Lankford. TEXAS A&M 3, LSU 2

LSU WASTED SCORING OPPORTUNITIES

First inning - Andrew Stevenson was hit by a pitch and moved to third on a single by Mark Laird. Bregman fouled out to the first baseman. Sean McMullen walked to load the bases. Jake Fraley struck out and Scivicque struck out.

Second inning - Hale doubled. Moore popped out to the shortstop. Hale was thrown out by the pitcher on Christian Ibarra's ground ball. Stevenson grounded out to the pitcher.

Fifth inning - With one out, Laird singled. After Bregman flied out to the centerfielder, Laird stole second. McMullen flied out to the centerfielder.

TOP OFFENSIVE PLAYER

Hale was responsible for both of LSU's runs. His triple brought home Scivicque in the fourth. Then, Hale scored on a wild pitch by Mengden. Hale, who was 2-for-4, had a leadoff double in the second. Hale has hit safely in five consecutive games. He is 7-for-17 in that stretch.

STARTING PITCHER

Poche struggled with his control, but he was able to limit Texas A&M to two runs in seven innings. Poche gave up seven hits and walked five. He was helped by three double plays. After allowing a run in the first, Poche got an inning-ending double play. He yielded a run in the second, but Scivicque threw out Birk trying to steal second to prevent any further damage. Poche hit the leadoff batter in the third, but induced McLendon to hit into a double play. Poche issued two walks in the fourth before striking out Ronnie Gideon to end the inning. The Aggies loaded the bases with one out in the fifth. Poche got a force out at the plate on a ground ball to the third baseman Ibarra and got Banks to hit into a force play. With two runners on base and two out in the seventh, Poche retired Jonathan Moroney on a fly ball to Stevenson in centerfield. Poche retired the side in order in just the sixth inning. In four innings, Poche permitted the leadoff batter to reach first base.

BULLPEN

After saving the victory in the series opener, Kurt McCune was not as effective Saturday. In the eighth, he got pinch-hitter Hunter Melton to hit into a double play with runners at first and second and one out. However, McCune didn't retire a batter in the ninth as he yielded three singles and issued a walk. The loss was the second of the year for McCune.

NOTES

Scivicque returned to the starting lineup as the catcher with Moore moving to first base. Hale played second base with Kramer Robertson going to the bench. . .Like Hale, Laird had two hits. The only other LSU player with a hit was Scivicque. . .Both Fraley and Ibarra are 0-for-7 in the first two games of the series. . .The Tigers didn't have a base runner after Laird singled with one out in the fifth. Mengden retired the last 14 hitters in a row. . .Mengden, who beat LSU 2-1 last season, gave up two runs and five hits with one walk and five strikeouts in throwing a complete game. . .LSU stranded five runners, three in scoring position. The Tigers were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. . .Lankford had three of the Aggies' 11 hits. Alleman and Banks each had two hits. . .Pitcher Parker Bugg is unavailable due to sore shoulder. Pitcher Hunter Devall didn't make the trip because of a shoulder strain. . .LSU is 35-12-1 overall, 13-9-1 in the SEC. The Tigers are third in the overall conference standings - behind Florida and Ole Miss. However, LSU is just ½ game ahead of four teams - Alabama, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. . .Texas A&M is 29-19 overall, 11-12 in the SEC. The Aggies are in eighth place in the overall league standings. . .The paid attendance was 5,512.

FROM THE CLUBHOUSE

Paul Mainieri

"Their pitcher (Mengden) is very talented and he did a great job. But, we face great pitching every weekend in the SEC. We have to rise up and execute more effectively at the plate. We couldn't muster the offense we needed today."

"Jared, as he always does, competed with every pitch and gave us a chance to win. He never gives up and he never gives in to the hitters. We couldn't generate the runs to support him."

UP NEXT

LSU will play the rubber game of its SEC series against Texas A&M at Blue Bell Park in College Station on Sunday at 1 p.m. Mainieri is undecided on the starting pitcher for the Tigers although, in all probability, it will be Alden Cartwright (1-0). The LSU-Texas A&M game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

-30-