Saturday afternoon didn’t exactly go the way that Paul Mainieri expected it to go for LSU (11-4), splitting the doubleheader with the California Golden Bears (7-6) after barely coming away with a win the night before.
How It Happened:
Game one of the doubleheader looked like a pitcher’s duel until the bottom of the fifth when Brock Mathis got the Tigers on the board with a solo shot out to left field. Todd Peterson came out to pitch the sixth inning and attempt to record a save, but things wound up going off the rails with the Golden Bears getting all five of their runs in that inning capped off by a two-run single by Brandon McIlwain and that was enough to take game one of the twinbill by the score of 5-2.
Game two was a little better for the Tigers with Chris Reid getting them on the board in the bottom of the second with a solo home run out to right field. Things didn’t look all that great though in the third inning with California putting up four runs, capped off by a two-run single by Darren Baker. However, LSU started to put it together thanks to Cade Beloso, who hit a solo shot in the fourth and followed that up with a two-run blast to right field in the sixth to give the Tigers a 5-4 win in the second game of the doubleheader.
Big Number: 5
The LSU bats sure weren’t silent on Saturday, with five home runs by the Tigers in the doubleheader on Saturday. It was quite impressive but showed how much they needed those power hitters, especially in the first game.
Player of the Day: Cade Beloso
Just his performance in game two was more than enough to snag him the honors with both of his hits being home runs and was the key to getting the win in the rubber match.
Next Up: Tuesday at Northwestern State; First Pitch at 6 pm
-Clint Domingue