BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers snapped a three-game losing skid on Tuesday night with a 6-3 victory on Tuesday over the visiting University of New Orleans Privateers.
The Tigers have won 14 of the last 17 meetings with the Privateers.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
UNO’s Diego Villescas drew a one-out walk and then stole second base. Privateers right fielder Mitchell Sanford stepped to the plate and proceeded to lift a pitch from Thatcher Hurd over the right field wall.
LSU answered in the bottom of the first as Paxton Kling led off the inning with a walk, stole second base, and reached third on a throwing error. Tommy White laced a one-out single into right field which brought home Kling.
In the top of the third, UNO extended its lead as Villescas homered off of relief pitcher Samuel Dutton, who calmed down after that blast as he struck out two of the next three hitters.
LSU cut into that lead in the bottom of the fourth as Jared Jones led off with his 15th home run of the season. Ashton Larson followed with a single to left field.
UNO’s Cortez Dennis got back on track as he struck out Hayden Travinski, forced Mac Bingham to fly out to deep center field, and had Brady Neal ground out to end the inning.
LSU started the fifth with a line out but Kling drew a four-pitch walk which prompted UNO to pull their starter Dennis and the Tigers took advantage.
Trey Usey came in and gave up a triple to Steven Milam which scored Kling, and then a ground out by White that scored Milam. Heading to the sixth inning, LSU held its first lead of the contest.
LSU added to its lead in the bottom of the sixth when Hayden Travinski hit a home run that sailed over the Left Field Landing stands and then Brady Neal blasted one over the right field wall.
That proved to be enough runs as the Tigers shut out the Privateers the final six innings of the game.
BIG NUMBER I: 65
With Tuesday’s victory, LSU has now defeated 65 times in 102 meetings between the two schools.
BIG NUMBER II: 7
LSU skipper Jay Johnson approached Tuesday’s game as a bullpen game as the Tigers used seven different pitchers, with not a single one pitching more than two innings.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: TOMMY WHITE
LSU’s third baseman brought home two runs as he hit a one-out single in the first, and then had a RBI groundout in the fifth inning.
UP NEXT: LSU (23-15, 3-12 SEC) returns to SEC action this weekend when it travels for a three-game series against Missouri. The first pitch is set for 7 p.m. on Friday and you can listen to the action live on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles.