Zack Hess gets back on track as LSU beats Bryant 13-6 to stay perfect

LSU baseball gained control early and never let up in a 13-6 game one win in its series against Bryant with hits coming from unexpected sources and ace Zack Hess getting back on track.

Hess took the mound Friday and looked much more confident with his command, his slider and changeup working at a very efficient level.

Hess would hit the first batter he faced but went on too strikeout the next two batters in a scoreless first, but needed 23 pitches to it. The junior ace really settled in after struggling with his command in the first, striking out the side in the second and had five strikeouts by the third inning.

“I feel like I was a little more synced up tonight,” Hess said. “They’re a good hitting ball club and we knew coming in we couldn’t pay much attention to the name on the front of the jersey. They put some good swings on me but it wa just about mixing up my pitches throughout the night.”

LSU (5-0) got the scoring going in the second after Zach Watson took one to the helmet and first baseman Cade Beloso followed with a single to left field. With runners on first and second, the Tigers tried a hit and run with Hal Hughes but the ball was thrown behind the third baseman, leading to a double steal that brought Watson home.

An RBI single from Hughes on the next pitch brought home Beloso, giving LSU the 2-0 advantage in the second.

Beloso is doing everything he can to win the first base job, after a 3-for-4 performance that puts his batting average up at .555, albeit in nine at bats.

“We did a good job of putting pressure on them early, putting good swings on the fastballs,” Beloso said. “You have to be ready when your number is called, if one guy doesn’t do well you have to come in and do better the next day.”

Mainieri said he wasn’t sure who will play the rest of the weekend but with the Tigers facing two left-handed pitchers the rest of the weekend, it could be back to Drew Bianco or Beloso.

Bryant couldn’t get out of its own way in the second and third innings as wild pitches and errors allowed LSU to add two runs in each inning to take a 6-1 lead at the end of four innings. The Bulldogs committed 4 errors on the night including two in the fifth inning that led to four LSU runs and blew the game open at 10-1.

The Tigers loaded the bases in the third inning with one out and Beloso back at the plate. Beloso drilled one back up the middle for an RBI single and Hughes picked up his second RBI of the day on a groundball.

With a 4-0 lead to play with, Hess was tattooed for three straight balls that went to the warning track, only one of which was catchable. Bryant scored its first run of the evening on a double to the right field wall from Sam Owens on a 0-2 count. The damage stopped there as Hess got out of the inning with a groundout to second base.

Hess was replaced by Eric Walker in the sixth inning and allowed four hits and one run with six strikeouts.

It took Walker seven pitches to get through the sixth inning but the seventh was a different animal. Walker walked the bases loaded with two outs and a wild pitch brought home one run. Bryant first baseman Chris Wright then sent one in the gap that brought home two more runs and ended Walker’s night.

The bullpen struggled mightily to put the ball in the strike zone as five walks between Walker, Aaron George and Matthew Beck helped Bryant trim a once 10-1 lead to 10-6. Mainieri went with Devin Fontenot mid-batter and the bases loaded and the sophomore struck out the final batter to end the threat.

“That concerns me a lot, you just can’t do that,” Mainieri said. “Especially when you have a big lead, just throw the ball for strikes. When you walk seven batters, it makes it easy on them to erase that nine run lead.”

There were some small alterations to the lineup as freshman outfielder Giovanni DiGiacomo was thrust into the lineup as a DH and batted second in the lineup. That meant that second baseman Brandt Broussard had to move back in the lineup, but Mainieri opted to bat him ninth in the order.

DiGiacomo went 2-for-3 from the two hole including a single in the sixth that brought home his first two RBI’s of his LSU career while Broussard went 1-for-4 from the nine hole spot.

LSU will be back in action for game two tomorrow night at 7 p.m. with Landon Marceaux on the mound for the Tigers.