Rewind: Tulane 7, LSU 6

Jake Willsey hit two home runs and Jake Slaughter flied out with the tying run at third base to end the game as Tulane defeated LSU 7-6 at The Box on Tuesday night.

HOW THEY SCORED

Tulane third inning – Willsey hit a leadoff home run over the centerfield fence. TULANE 1, LSU 0

Tulane fourth inning – With one out Jarret DeHart walked and advanced to third on a single by Sal Gozzo. DeHart scored when he beat shortstop Kramer Robertson’s throw to the plate on Kody Hoese’s ground ball. TULANE 2, LSU 0

LSU fourth inning – Antoine Duplantis and Greg Deichmann walked. After Zach Watson flied out to the leftfielder, Josh Smith was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After Jake Slaughter struck out, Duplantis scored on an infield single by Beau Jordan. Michael Papierski hit a grand slam home run over the leftfield fence. LSU 5, TULANE 2

Tulane fifth inning – With one out Grant Witherspoon singled. Lex Kaplan hit a two-run homer over the centerfield fence. LSU 5, TULANE 4

Tulane sixth inning – With two out, Tyler Heinrichs singled. Willsey hit a two-run homer over the leftfield fence. TULANE 6, LSU 5

Tulane ninth inning – With one out, Witherspoon singled. After Kaplan popped out to the shortstop, Witherspoon scored on a double by Hunter Williams. TULANE 7, LSU 5

LSU ninth inning – With one out, Deichmann walked. Watson popped out to the second baseman. Deichmann scored when the first baseman Williams failed to catch Smith’s ground ball. TULANE 7, LSU 6

KEY STRETCH OF GAME

Trailing 6-5, LSU loaded the bases in the seventh on a single by Duplantis, a walk and an error by Christian Colletti on Smith’s ground ball. Slaughter hit a line drive, but it was right at the third baseman Hoese. The ball was caught for the final out of the inning preventing the Tigers from taking the lead.

KEY TEAM STATISTICS

Tulane outhit LSU 10-6. With the wind blowing out to leftfield, the Green Wave hit three home runs. The Tigers hit just one homer. . .Tulane won despite making three errors and issuing eight walks. . .LSU pitchers walked two and struck out ten. . .The Tigers stranded ten runners – five in scoring position. LSU was 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS

LSU

Beau Jordan: 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 run scored

Michael Papierski: 1-for-1, 4 RBIs, 1 home run, 1 run scored

Greg Deichmann: 0-for-1, 2 runs scored

Zack Hess: 5 innings, 5 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts

TULANE

Jake Willsey: 2-for-4, 3 RBIs, 2 home runs, 2 runs scored

Lex Kaplan: 2-for-4, 2 RBIs, 1 home run, 1 run scored

Grant Witherspoon: 2-for-5, 2 runs scored

Chase Solesky: 3 innings, 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout

LSU’S PLAYER OF THE GAME

Papierski delivered the one big hit of the night for the Tigers – a grand slam in the fourth inning which put them ahead 5-2. Papierski drew two walks and put down a sacrifice bunt in other plate appearances. He also threw out a runner attempting to steal second base.

Papierski’s comments: “I was looking for a fast ball and I got it. The pitch was down and in and I out a good swing on it. I didn’t think it was out, but I got it up in the wind. We hit more than a couple of line drives right at people. Cole (Freeman) had two and Slaughter hit one at the third baseman. It just seemed like there was one after another we hit at them. We have to come out (Wednesday), flush this game and move on.”

NOTES

LSU coach Paul Mainieri made a switch in the outfield. Duplantis went back to centerfield where he started the season and Watson shifted to leftfield. Jordan was the designated hitter for the third consecutive game and Papierski was the catcher. . .The grand slam homer by Papierski was the first this season for the Tigers. . .The top four hitters in the LSU batting order – Robertson, Freeman, Duplantis and Deichmann – were a combined 2-for-15. They went 8-for-46 in the three games at Florida. . .Robertson came to the plate in the eighth with the tying run at third base and one out. Robertson hit a ground ball to the shortstop Sal Gozzo, who threw Jordan out at the plate. . .Slaughter went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring positon. . .Sam Bjorngjeld allowed the five LSU runs, but he was the winning pitcher. Keagan Gillies and Christian Colletti gave up one unearned run and two hits over the final four innings. . .The Green Wave starter Solesky was lifted after three scoreless innings because he will start against South Florida on Sunday. . .Hess was victimized by the home run ball. Three of the four runs allowed by Hess came on homers. For the season, Hess has given up five home runs in 28 innings this year. . .Russell Reynolds gave up a 5-4 lead in the sixth on Willsey’s second home run of the game. Willsey has hit four home runs in the last three games against the Tigers. . .Austin Bain and Matthew Beck combined for 2.1 innings of hitless relief. Nick Bush allowed what turned out to be the winning run in the ninth. . .LSU is 18-8, while Tulane is 10-15. . .The Tigers have lost three straight games to the Green Wave for the first time since 2006-07. LSU dropped home games to Tulane in back-to-back years for the first time since 2004-05. . .The paid attendance was 10,732. The actual crowd was about 5,300. . .Alex Lange will be the starting pitcher against Texas A&M on Thursday.

FROM THE LOCKERROOM

Coach Paul Mainieri’s comments: “We hit some balls hard, but not enough. With the wind blowing out, I thought we’d hit more home runs. It’s hard to have bad luck when you hit the ball out of the park. We had the right guys up in the eighth inning and we couldn’t get the run in.”

UP NEXT

LSU will play host to Texas A&M in the opener of their three-game Southeastern Conference series at The Box on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. Central. The Aggies (17-9) beat Texas State 9-3 at San Marcos on Tuesday night. The LSU-Texas A&M game will be available on the SEC Network.