After trouncing Southern University in the Wally Pontiff Jr. Classic at Zephyr Field on Tuesday night, No. 3 LSU’s offense stayed white-hot in a 16-2 massacre of the Jaguars Wednesday in Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (32-2, 11-1 Southeastern Conference) didn’t wait long to bury Southern, as LSU put five runs on the board before the end of the second inning. RBIs from senior first baseman Mason Katz, senior left fielder Raph Rhymes and freshman designated hitter Michael Barash gave the home squad a comfortable lead.
Two innings later, the Tigers delivered the fatal blow.
The bottom of the fourth inning saw seven runs cross the plate for LSU. After Rhymes drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Tigers a 6-2 lead, Katz picked up his third RBI of the contest and junior third baseman Christian Ibarra stepped to the plate. The junior college transfer blasted a ball that appeared to clear the left field wall for a grand slam, but the umpires overturned the call.
“When I hit it, I saw it hit the bleachers,” Ibarra said. “Then the infielders told me that it hit the yellow and bounced back. So I was like, ‘Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I got the RBIs.’”
Instead, it went down as a three-run double, making it 11-2 and putting the game out of reach for Southern. The Jaguars committed eight errors during the game.
In what turned out to be a sloppy game for the Jaguars’ defense, the Tigers plated 16 runs, securing victory No. 32 before travelling to Arkansas this weekend.
“We hit the ball well today, and we did a good job with runners in scoring position,” Katz said. “They had a couple of mishaps today that kept some of the innings going for us. We hit a lot of balls hard. When we can do that, that’s what we’re looking for. There were no lazy fly outs.”
Junior right fielder Sean McMullen proved to be a spark plug again at the top of the order, going 3-for-3 with three runs scored. The once-reserve outfielder has established himself as the primary leadoff man for the Tigers.
“I’ve got to be picky during my at bats, but if they throw one right over the plate, I’m going to swing, and [LSU coach Paul] Mainieri has all the confidence in me to hit the ball hard,” McMullen said. “I go up there with an aggressive approach.”
Freshman southpaw Hunter Devall (3-0) started for LSU, tossing two innings of one-hit, one-run baseball. Overall, the Tigers used seven pitchers, who combined to throw nine innings of two-run baseball while recording 10 strikeouts.
Devall said he could have performed better on the mound, but he trusted his offense to back him up.
“My performance today definitely wasn’t my best,” Devall said. “I went out there, and the only thing I really had going for me was my fastball. But I knew that our offense was going to come out and score several runs, so I wasn’t worried about the loss.”
