Washington may have struck first in Alex Box Stadium on Sunday, but the top of the Tigers’ order eventually pounded the Huskies’ pitching staff to secure a 7-5 win, completing a weekend sweep.
LSU sophomore starter Cody Glenn (3-0) took the mound seeking his third win of the season, having not allowed an earned run in any of his previous three outings. It didn’t take long for that streak to end, though, as the Huskies (4-11) scratched two runs across home plate in the second inning to give Washington an early 2-0 lead.
“Early on, I didn’t have my best stuff, and I was leaving the ball up a little bit, and it showed for the first two innings all the way to the third,” Glenn said. “That’s why they were able to scratch a couple off me.”
Then the Tigers’ offense went to work.
Senior first baseman Mason Katz, who hit two home runs Saturday night, stayed scorching hot at the plate, hitting a two-run bomb over the left field wall to score fellow senior Raph Rhymes and tie the game at 2-2. Junior catcher Ty Ross would add a long fly of his own, a solo home run, which sailed over the left field bleachers to give LSU (15-1) a one-run lead.
Freshman shortstop Alex Bregman added two hits and two RBIs, and freshman right fielder Mark Laird raised his batting average to a team-high .411 after recording four hits and an RBI in the contest.
“[The high batting average] comes with experience,” Laird said. “The more games I play, the more comfortable I get at the plate. I’m just doing better at hitting the ball where it’s pitched and choosing which balls to swing at.”
The first five hitters in the Tigers’ order were responsible for 10 of the team’s 11 hits in the game. The weekend was an offensive explosion for LSU, who scored seven or more runs in every game of a three-game weekend series for the first time since 2011.
“Over the last couple of weeks, our offense is really starting to gel,” Katz said. “[It was tough] early in the year with the wind howling around.”
Meanwhile, Glenn hung around on the mound for five and two-thirds innings pitched, recording three strikeouts and picking up his third victory of the season.
“I was proud of the way I bounced back from [the second inning],” Glenn said. “I’m proud that I was able to battle and compete and get as deep into the game as I could for my team. Every time I’m on the mound, I’m thinking of going the distance.”
Glenn’s victory wouldn’t have been possible without the bullpen’s effort, as a combination of junior Nick Rumbelow, freshman Hunter Newman and seniors Brent Bonvillain, Joey Bourgeois and Chris Cotton tossed three and one-third innings of three-run baseball.
LSU coach Paul Mainieri still wasn’t satisfied, though.
“Bourgeois and Cotton are fantastic, and I think Nick Rumbelow can be really good, too, if he was a little more consistent,” Mainieri said. “But we still need somebody to emerge.”
LSU sophomore left-handed pitcher Cody Glenn (24) throws the ball to first base Sunday, March 10, 2013 during the Tigers' 7-5 victory against the Washington Huskies in Alex Box Stadium.
