As a slumping LSU offense seemed to take a step forward Sunday, the usually reliable Tiger bullpen took a glaring step back.
Six LSU pitchers issued a season-high 10 walks, and starter Zac Person didn’t make it out of the fourth inning as Florida completed a three-game sweep of the Tigers, 11-7, in Gainesville on Sunday.
It was the first sweep of LSU since Vanderbilt swept the Tigers in April 2011.
Junior catcher Kade Scivicque gave the Tigers an early lead Sunday, lacing an RBI single to left field to score sophomore shortstop Alex Bregman and put the Tigers up 1-0.
Gator center fielder Harrison Bader answered in the bottom of the frame, dispatching Person’s 2-1 pitch into the left-center field bleachers for Florida’s fourth home run of the series to knot the game at one.
The Tigers strung together three consecutive hits in the second, the last a double from freshman left fielder Jake Fraley that scored juniors Conner Hale and Tyler Moore.
Fraley finished the game 2-for-4, joining Hale as the only two LSU players with multiple hits.
After John Sternagel’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second cut the Gator deficit to 3-2, LSU senior designated hitter Sean McMullen cranked a solo home run to open the third, putting the Tigers back up 4-2.
From there, the sudden offensive resurgence quickly stagnated.
Facing Gator relievers Kirby Snead and Bobby Poyner, the Tigers collected only three hits after the fourth, using coach Paul Mainieri’s new aggressive approach at the plate to no avail.
Mainieri yanked Person in the fourth after Gator catcher Taylor Gushue’s RBI single was followed by Person’s second walk of the inning, inserting senior right-hander Nate Fury.
Fury issued back-to-back walks on nine pitches to plate another run, then gave up a two-RBI single to Peter Alonso to put the Gators in control, 6-4.
The Florida fifth followed the same script as Tiger junior reliever Henri Faucheux walked two batters to start the inning, allowed a sacrifice bunt then intentionally walked Alonso to set up a force at each base.
Mainieri pulled Faucheux in favor of freshman Parker Bugg, who promptly surrendered an RBI single and two-RBI double sandwiched around a popout to make the Tigers’ deficit 10-4.
Senior third baseman Christian Ibarra hit a sacrifice fly and junior outfielder Chris Sciambra cranked a two-run home run in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough to mount any sort of serious rally.
Bregman, whom Mainieri shielded from the media prior to the series to take some pressure off, finished the three-game set 0-for-12 and saw his batting average drop from .330 to .291.