When Alcorn State first baseman Ashton Lewis split the gap with a three-run double in the first inning, Jake Fraley and the LSU starters began to wonder.
“Maybe we’re going to get in here in a couple innings,” Fraley thought. “Maybe even the next pitch.”
The Braves, who came into the contest sporting an 8-36 record and were No. 296 in the NCAA’s latest RPI, flipped the script on the Tigers, who were piecing together the midweek game on the mound and started the game with a bevy of reserves.
When Fraley and the starters finally cracked the field in the sixth and seventh, three home runs from three Tigers who weren’t in the original starting lineup sparked a late-game rally and five-run eighth inning to give LSU a 9-7 win.
“I told the players it never goes according to script,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “Those kids from Alcorn State played their hearts out tonight.”
The Braves pounded out 16 hits against the LSU pitching staff — the most of any team against the Tigers this season.
But as their pitching became suspect late in the game, the Tigers’ everyday players took control.
Fraley, inserted as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning with the Tigers trailing 6-1, launched a three-run home run just over the right field bleachers, capitalizing on two Alcorn State errors in the inning.
“Everyone was a little down, but not too much,” Fraley said. “We knew we had it in us to come back at any moment. We just had to turn that switch on. I was blessed to turn it on.”
It was Fraley who started the big eighth inning, taking a fastball to the back with one out. Junior catcher Tyler Moore, also inserted in the sixth, sent him home with a two-run home run to right-center.
Three batters later, second baseman Conner Hale delivered the dagger, a mammoth three-run blast to left field to complete the rally and give LSU a 9-7 lead.
“This game was crazy,” Hale said. “They had us at 5-1 and 6-1. We had some guys get on in the eighth inning. … It was awesome, and it was finally good to see one get out.”
A mute crowd of 2,940 watched stunned as Alcorn State rocked Tiger junior Henri Faucheux in the third, tallying five runs on six hits. The Braves had a sixth run gunned down at the plate to end the inning, but settled for a 5-0 lead.
Junior Kyle Bouman replaced Faucheux in the fourth and faced similar results. He too allowed six hits to the Braves over two innings of work, but he limited them to one run in the sixth on Edgardo Salas’ RBI single.