The LSU Tigers have had some poor defensive outings as of late. In the last three games, LSU has committed ten errors, including five on Friday afternoon.
Even with the numerous errors, the Tigers bats bailed them out yet again to win the opener of the Baton Rouge regional over Texas Southern by the score of 15-7.
Texas Southern got out to an early lead after an error from Nick Coomes off of an RBI single from Christian Sanchez made it 2-0. Jose Camacho followed it up with an RBI single in the second to extend their lead.
LSU roared back in the second with Michael Papierski hitting an RBI single to cut away at the lead. Zach Watson followed that up with a three-run blast to take a 4-3 lead. Greg Deichmann gave Jared Poche a little bit of insurance in the third with an RBI single.
However, it wasn’t enough as Texas Southern fired back with a Gaudencio Lucca RBI single in the top of the fifth. Later in the inning, a hit went straight through Kramer Robertson’s legs and that wound up scoring two more runs to take the lead back. Horace Leblanc closed out the big 5th inning with an RBI single to make it 7-5.
The back and forth continued in the bottom frame with a four-run inning capped off by an RBI double.
LSU put the game out of reach in the seventh with Papierski and Watson going back-to-back home runs to make it 12-7.
Caleb Gilbert improved to 5-1 on the year allowing only two hits and striking out six in two and thirds innings of relief.
The Tigers will now wait to take on the winner of Southeastern Louisiana and Rice. First pitch is slated for 7 pm.
-Clint Domingue