METAIRIE — LSU raked in its 31st win of the season coincidentally during the game honoring former LSU infielder Wally Pontiff Jr., who wore No. 31.
The Tigers (31-2, 11-1 Southeastern Conference) dominated Southern University (12-13) 11-2 during the annual Wally Pontiff Jr. Foundation Classic at Zephyr Field in Metairie on Tuesday night.
Several Tigers honored Pontiff by wearing their socks up, a trait for which Pontiff was known.
“We did that for Wally tonight because we wanted to play the game like he did and we all know he played the game the right way,” said freshman shortstop Alex Bregman.
But there might be more than memorializing Pontiff to the high socks. Bregman, who is riding a 21-game hitting streak and batting .439, said there’s magic in the high socks.
Case in point, junior second baseman JaCoby Jones, who had a single against Southern after posting a .615 batting average during the Kentucky series.
“You saw with JaCoby — starting wearing [his socks] up, starting raking,” Bregman said.
The magic was in the air at Zephyr Field as 12 of 14 LSU batters notched hits. Senior first baseman Mason Katz — on a 13-game hitting streak — and catcher Michael Barash led with two hits each. Bregman had his own 3-RBI triple in the fourth inning.
“Alex Bregman is amazing,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “He comes up with the bases loaded and two outs and triples off the left-center field wall and breaks the game open there.”
Junior pitcher Kurt McCune had his 2013 season debut, pitching three innings and giving up two runs.
“I think Kurt can be better than that,” Mainieri said. “It was a good first outing for him. I don’t think it was a world-beating outing for him, but it could have been a lot worse.”
The LSU bullpen came in clutch as senior pitcher Brent Bonvillain issued seven strikeouts in three innings and New Orleans-bred junior Nate Fury allowed zero hits and a strikeout.
Freshman pitcher Mitch Sewald admitted to having a few butterflies during his first inning on the mound for the Tigers, pitching the last two innings and allowing two hits.
“I knew I had a chance to pitch coming into the game, but I didn’t actually know I was going to pitch until the inning before,” Sewald said.
Coming into the game, Sewald was the only player on the LSU roster without any game time.
“I thought [Sewald] was pretty encouraging today,” Mainieri said. “He threw a lot of good low fastballs in the strike zone and had good velocity on it. He still needs to work on his off-speed pitches, but it was good for him to get out there for the first time.”
LSU will face Southern again at 7 p.m. tonight in Alex Box Stadium, with freshman left-handed pitcher Hunter Devall starting on the mound.
