On an admittedly frustrating evening when LSU hitters couldn’t catch up with BYU pitching, the Tigers got a lift from a seemingly unlikely source.
Junior third baseman and nine-hole hitter Christian Ibarra lifted a 1-0 fastball over the wall in left to knot the game at five in the bottom of the ninth inning, propelling No. 9 LSU (5-0) to rally and capture a dramatic 6-5 victory against the Cougars (2-3).
Ibarra, mainly known for his defensive prowess at the hot corner, turned on the head-high heater to the surprise of the sparse Alex Box Stadium crowd, but not to his teammates who had seen it all before.
“He’s got that little Spanish swag to him that I feel like he’s just going to launch one once in a while,” said senior first baseman Mason Katz. “We’ve seen it out of him, and he’s got the swing for it.”
Ibarra’s homer off Cougar closer Matt Milke opened the floodgates for the Tigers as sophomore center fielder Chris Sciambra followed with a four-pitch walk.
After surrendering singles to true freshmen Mark Laird and Alex Bregman, Milke completed the implosion, watching as senior left fielder Raph Rhymes crushed a fly ball to deep left field that Jacob Hannemann misplayed, scoring Sciambra and sending the Tigers to their fifth straight win.
Laird’s single capped a four-hit night for the freshman, the most of his young Tiger career.
“I’ve been trying to settle in over the first couple of games,” Laird said. “I was just trying to find a quality pitch to swing at and tried to put it in play.”
Laird seemed to be the only Tiger in sync at the plate as the Cougar combo of Desmond Poulson and side-armer Derek Speigner fooled LSU all night, scattering eight hits through the first eight innings.
Katz opened the scoring in the second inning, busting out of an early-season slump with a solo home run into the left field bleachers, putting the Tigers up 1-0.
The Cougars punched right back with four runs off of LSU sophomore starter Aaron Nola, including a three-run home run from center fielder Jaycob Brugman that hit to the deepest part of the ballpark.
Nola struggled with his command all night, walking a career-high three batters.
“I didn’t have my A-game,” Nola said. “I missed one of my spots in a crucial situation and [Brugman] made me pay for it.”
The Tigers would manufacture two runs in the bottom of the third after Laird doubled to open the frame and Rhymes drew a walk. Junior second baseman JaCoby Jones brought them both in with a double into the gap as he continued his torrid season.
LSU tied the game up in the seventh inning when freshman shortstop Alex Bregman drove in Laird with a bloop double that barely landed fair in right field.
BYU pulled ahead again in the eighth as Brugman delivered again with an RBI double off Tiger reliever Hunter Devall, setting up the late-inning heroics.
LSU coach Paul Mainieri was unhappy with his team’s missed opportunities, but applauded the Tigers’ resolve heading into tonight’s contest with Southeastern Louisiana.
“We let some opportunities to score go by,” Mainieri said. “As I said through the first four games, nobody panics on our team.”
