LSU outlasts Lamar 8-1

Following a weekend sweep of Maryland, LSU hosted Lamar for the first midweek game of the season. After a slow start offensively, the Tigers used a big eighth inning to produce six runs and put the game out of hand.

LSU took on Lamar on Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium and came out victorious by a score of 8-1.

In the first midweek game of the 2013 baseball season, LSU (4-0) had a fight on their hands throughout most of the game against Lamar (4-1). LSU got off to a rocky start in the first inning when sophomore starter Cody Glenn allowed the first batter of the game to reach base on a passed ball third strike.

From there, Glenn walked the next two hitters and then an error by Christian Ibarra at third allowed a run to score, putting Lamar up 1-0 early in the game.

The lead for Lamar didn’t last long as JaCoby Jones delivered in the bottom of the second with homerun number two of 2013 over the left field wall. The Tigers didn’t produce another run until the sixth inning, after Glenn was already out of the game.

Glenn had a solid outing after he settled down early in the game. Glenn finished the game with 3 hits, 5 strikeouts, and 2 walks in five innings of work. The only run he allowed was not earned.

Following Glenn, LSU went with a committee approach to close out the game. Hunter Devall was first out of the pen, and he ended up earning the victory in this game, his first of 2013.

Nate Fury and Joey Bourgeois also added two-thirds of an inning each and only allowed one hit. Chris Cotton closed out the game and earned his second save of 2013. Cotton fanned five in just one and a third innings of work.

“Hunter Devall came in and shut them down tonight,” said Mainieri. “He came in and pounded the strike zone and just dominated their hitters. Fury pitched well and I brought in Cotton because it was a steal situation and the game was still very close at that point.”

All in all, Mainieri was very pleased with the way the staff competed on a frigid night.

“I thought it was another outstanding pitching performance by our entire staff tonight,” said Mainieri. “We had a real chance to be dominant that entire game tonight. I wasn’t please that Cody [Glenn] walked two batters in the first inning, but he bounced back. We held them scoreless after that first inning and I’ll take that any day.”

On the offensive side, the Tigers scored eight runs on nine hits. The turning point in the game came in the eighth inning when the Lamar pitching staff began to struggle trying to find the strike zone. In that inning alone six Tigers reached base by way of the walk.

While it was a close game until the end, senior Mason Katz explained that LSU just had to let Lamar make mistakes and then capitalize on them, something he feels they did extremely well.

“For us to still be selective that late in the game was big for us,” said Katz. “It was a close game and we just went in with the approach that we were going to produce. They really did it all for us. We literally went out there and did nothing, and we ended up with six runs because of walks. Sometimes that’s just how the game is.”

LSU will take on BYU at Alex Box Stadium on Thursday night. Aaron Nola will start game one for the Tigers, followed by Ryan Eades on Saturday and Brent Bonvillain on Sunday.