The No. 8 Tigers didn’t waste any time downing Sacred Heart University Wednesday, putting the Pioneers in a hole early and never turning back in a 10-2 victory.
After senior left fielder Raph Rhymes led off the bottom of the second inning with a single, senior first baseman Mason Katz roped an RBI double to center field. Freshman designated hitter Michael Barash later added an RBI single of his own, and junior third baseman Christian Ibarra, sophomore outfielder Jared Foster and freshman centerfielder Mark Laird also added to the Tigers’ lead.
“It was huge,” said freshman shortstop Alex Bregman. “Every guy up there battled, and we needed that. The second inning has been our inning recently.”
LSU (12-1) had a 6-0 advantage by the end of the second inning.
“We were seeing the ball well,” Katz said. “We kind of got a mentality of hitting the ball hard to right field. We started eliminating the inside part of the plate and hitting everything to the right side. We had a lot of really good at-bats after that.”
The two players who started the initial scoring rally, Rhymes and Katz, both extended their hitting streaks to 11 games. Rhymes’ 1-for-4 effort brought his batting average to .396 this season, while Katz’s 1-for-3 day at the plate left him at .333 on the year.
Katz wasn’t aware that he and his fellow senior were in a heated hit-streak battle until questioned about it after the game, and he quickly became eager to fill Rhymes in.
“If I had to put my money on it, I’d probably put it on Raph,” Katz said. “That’s a cool little thing. I’m sure there’s probably going to be something said about it now. In fact, I’m probably going to go talk some smack in the locker room in a bit.”
The offensive surge continued in the fifth inning, as Bregman followed two wild pitches in to score from second base, and junior catcher Ty Ross laced an RBI single to drive in junior second baseman JaCoby Jones. The Tigers would tack on two more runs in the sixth and eighth innings, completing the rout of Sacred Heart (0-5).
LSU went with a different approach on the mound Wednesday night, starting a reliever for its second mid-week game. Junior Nick Rumbelow (1-0) took the mound to start the contest for the Tigers, going two innings and striking out two hitters.
After Rumbelow left the mound, LSU coach Paul Mainieri turned to freshmen Hunter Newman and Hunter Devall, who combined to toss five innings of one-run baseball. Both relievers also added seven strikeouts to the team total, allowing only five hits in the process.
“I was a little nervous tonight going into the game, because I knew after Rumbelow we were going to go with freshman pitchers, and we had to try to get to the eighth inning with the young kids, and you never know how they’re going to handle the bright lights,” Mainieri said. “It was nice that they could pitch with a little bit of a cushion there.”
“I’m sure there’s probably going to be something said about [the hit streak] now. In fact, I’m probably going to go talk some smack in the locker room in a bit.”
