NEW ORLEANS — The LSU baseball team met disappointment in its last visit to Turchin Stadium.
Not this time.
After dropping a 3-2 decision in 11 innings last season, the No. 1 Tigers (22-3) overwhelmed Tulane (17-8) from the start, stomping the Green Wave, 13-7, on Tuesday in New Orleans.
It was LSU’s second consecutive win against Tulane, which suffered its worst loss of the season and third in the last four games in front of a near-capacity crowd of 4,994.
While the Green Wave slumped to just four hits through the first seven innings, the Tigers were hot at the plate. LSU batted .422 (19-for-45) as a team, and eight of nine starters recorded a hit. It was the fifth time the Tigers tallied at least 19 hits in a game this season.
“Our offense did a great job he of not only making solid contact and finding holes but driving runners in,” said LSU junior outfielder Mark Laird.
LSU junior outfielder Andrew Stevenson scored two runs and went 4-for-6 at the plate with a double, and Laird batted 2-for-3 with a triple and a homer, the first of his career. Laird also reached home three times.
Despite the six-run victory, the Tigers didn’t get much from sophomore starting pitcher Russell Reynolds. In his third start of the year, Reynolds lasted only 2 and 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on three hits and four walks.
But with LSU scoring runs in seven consecutive innings — including three three-run frames — even Reynolds’ subpar outing wasn’t going to prevent the Tigers from beating Tulane for the 12th time in 15 games.
LSU sophomore pitcher Hunter Newman (2-0) picked up the win after he relieved Reynolds with two outs in the bottom of the third. Newman tossed three shutout innings and retired 10 of the 11 batters he faced.
“[Newman’s] becoming a guy that we can really count on,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri.
After the Green Wave grabbed a 1-0 lead after the first inning, LSU scored four runs in the second and third to take a 4-3 edge through three.
Laird put another on the board with an inside-the-park home run in the fourth, and LSU broke the game open with a three-run, four-hit fifth inning and led, 8-3, after five. The Tigers scored a run in the sixth and seventh before piling on three more in the eighth.
Tulane showed signs of life after scoring four runs in the last two innings, but the previous four scoreless innings doomed the Green Wave to its second consecutive loss to LSU.
LSU resumes action with a weekend series against SEC opponent Kentucky beginning at 7 p.m. Friday in Alex Box Stadium.
You can reach David Gray on Twitter @dgray_TDR.