LSU has avoided the big hit for practically the entire SEC season.
It’s proven difficult to hit when there are runners in scoring position, particularly when there are two outs. There haven’t been many big innings.
But on Saturday at Alex Box Stadium against No. 1 Texas A&M, LSU needed that huge hit in the sixth inning. With Josh Pearson at bat, the Tigers trailed by just one run with the bases loaded and no one out.
Finally, LSU scored a major point this time. A four-run inning was started by Pearson’s two-run double into left field, which helped LSU defeat the nation’s top-ranked squad 6-4.
Coach Jay Johnson of LSU responded, “Yeah probably,” when asked if Friday’s victory was the team’s best triumph so far this season. “I think (considering) RPI, KPI, all the things that we are evaluated by, get somebody that’s, whatever they are, 39-7 or six or whatever, and you filter that into your winning percentage and get a win while you’re doing it, it helps.”
Hayden Travinski sacrifice flew out to extend LSU’s lead to two after Pearson’s double. Two batters later, Steven Milam singled in a run to make the score 6-3.
“Those inflection points in the game whether it’s getting off the field with two outs and runners on base for the other team, or just slowing down and hitting a little liner the other way… we didn’t do as much of that as we needed to to win,” Johnson stated. “But now we are.”
Later in the eighth inning, Travinski looked to have hit a solo home run, but to the dismay of every Tigers supporter present, the decision was reversed on the field following a video review. With the blast, LSU’s advantage would have been back up to three runs.
This was the third of four calls that the video replay review overturned. Replay review changed the game’s final out from out to safe in the ninth inning, leading to Aggies center fielder Jace LaViolette being awarded a single. This was the fourth overturned call of the game.
“I’ve never seen four video review calls overturned in a game, let alone against one team,” Johnson stated. “… I was one of like 11,000 (fans) not happy on any one of those four, particularly the last one.”
After being retired in order through the first two innings, LSU (30-17, 8-14 SEC) had a breakthrough in the third inning when two walks and a single put Tommy White on base with one out.
White grounded out to third baseman Gavin Grahovac of A&M, possibly setting up a double play. After Grahovac touched third base for the second out, two runs were allowed to tie the score because of an erroneous throw to first.
At the end of the game, Larson, Milam, and Jared Jones each had two hits. Travinski and Pearson each scored two runs.
“We’ve known all year that we have the talent to compete with anybody,” Pearson stated.
As the Tigers’ starting left-hander, Gage Jump did a decent job of keeping LSU within striking distance. In five and a half innings, he scattered six hits, struck out four, and gave up just three earned runs.
He gave up runs to Texas A&M(39-7,15-7) but it was all solo home runs. Before Ali Camarillo hit two home runs, Jace LaViolette gave the Aggies a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a drive into right field.
After LSU tied the game in the third, Camarillo hit a home run in the second to double their advantage and another in the fourth to give Texas A&M the lead again.
“(Jump) competed again tonight and had some early adversity with the home runs and responded really well,” Johnson stated. “And got us deep into that game.”
With one out in the sixth, Jump was replaced by right-hander Fidel Ulloa, who retired the next four hitters he faced before giving up a two-out double in the seventh.
Griffin Herring, a left-hander, then entered the game and completed the seventh. Texas A&M had runners on the bases in the ninth inning, and Herring gave up an unearned run-scoring single in the eighth. However, he got out of trouble in the ninth and struck out Braden Montgomery to seal the victory.
“We flooded the zone, and we threw multiple pitches in the zone,” stated Johnson. “And so that was maybe hard for (Montgomery) to get on anything.”