Standing in the on-deck circle in the ninth inning of a tie game, LSU sophomore outfielder Mark Laird took it personally.
Laird watched as Arkansas left-handed closer Michael Gunn — who hadn’t allowed an earned run all season — intentionally walked senior Tiger leadoff hitter Sean McMullen to bring him up with two outs.
“I’m a competitive guy,” Laird said. “When I saw him walk the guy in front of me, it kind of got to me.”
Once in the batter’s box, Laird worked the count full and waited on the high fastball that was coming. He took it the opposite way for a walk-off single to left field, propelling LSU to a 5-4 victory against the Razorbacks.
The single was Laird’s only hit of the day and the only hit for any of the Tigers’ first three hitters, who combined to go 1-for-11 with three strikeouts.
Sophomore Chris Chinea began the ninth inning rally, drawing a five-pitch walk from Gunn before being lifted in favor of pinch runner Jake Fraley.
It was redemption for Chinea, who had a catcher’s interference and an errant throw to third in a two-run Arkansas seventh inning that allowed the Razorbacks to knot the score at four.
“I was hard on myself,” Chinea said. “I went up to the pitchers and said ‘my bad.’ I knew I was going to come up to the plate again and I drew that walk.”
After Tiger sophomore Andrew Stevenson’s sacrifice bunt moved Fraley to second, freshman second baseman Kramer Robertson popped out weakly to the catcher on the first pitch he saw to bring McMullen to the plate.
The Razorbacks’ strategy to issue a free pass wasn’t surprising to LSU coach Paul Mainieri.
“McMullen hits for much higher average against left-handed pitching than he does against right-handed pitching,” Mainieri said. “I knew Mark could hit [Gunn].”
As it did Friday night, LSU jumped on Arkansas pitching early. Senior Tiger third baseman Christian Ibarra lifted a two-out solo home run off Razorback starter Jalen Beeks in the second, followed by Chinea’s RBI double two batters later to give LSU an early 2-0 cushion.
Chinea followed with another two-out hit, a single, in the fourth off Beeks, who then walked Stevenson on a full count. Robertson chased both sophomores home with a bases clearing double to the gap, padding the Tiger lead to 4-0 through four.
LSU freshman starter Jared Poche’ wiggled out of two early jams in the first and third, but was unable to keep the Razorbacks off the scoreboard in the fifth.
First baseman Eric Fisher crushed Poche’s second pitch of the fifth inning over the right-center field wall for his second homer of the series to cut the Tiger lead to 4-1. Poche’ plunked Michae Bernal with his next pitch and Bernal scored on Joe Serrano’s sacrifice fly three batters later to slice the Tiger lead in half.
“It wasn’t my best [outing] but it wasn’t my worst,” Poche’ said. “I felt like I couldn’t locate my fastball. But I came out of the game winning and I gave my team a chance to win.”
Poche’ exited after 5 2/3 innings, his last pitch resulting in Fisher’s sacrifice fly that pulled the Razorbacks within one.
From there, the Tiger bullpen took over. Junior Brady Domangue induced a lineout in relief of Poche’ in the sixth to strand the tying run at third.
Sophomore Hunter Devall and freshman Alden Cartwright combined to limit the damage in the seventh after Chinea’s two errors, highlighted by Cartwright’s punch out of Arkansas clean-up man Brian Anderson for a crucial second out.
“[Pitching coach] Alan Dunn and I talked before the game that it’s time to throw Domangue and Devall into those pressure situations to see if we can count on them down the stretch,” Mainieri said. “They came in and did a great job.”
Senior Kurt McCune escaped the eighth unscathed after Fisher’s two-out double but was lifted in the ninth after Tiger sophomore shortstop Alex Bregman’s throwing error put the go-ahead run at second base with no out.
Mainieri went with closer Joe Broussard — who threw 23 pitches in an extended outing Friday — and he slammed the door on the Hogs, inducing a groundout against Serrano and a five-pitch strikeout of pinch hitter Clark Eagan.
“Everybody came out and did exactly what they needed to do and it escalated into a team win,” Broussard said. “It’s a big confidence booster. Every week out here it’s a one-run ballgame, you never know how it’s going to be.”
For Chinea, his at-bat to start the ninth seemed like an atonement for his disastrous seventh inning, but he said Laird’s base hit again proved how teammates can pick up where another lacked.
Instead of the customary congratulations in the postgame mob, Chinea had a different tone for Laird.
“Thank you,” he told him.