The No. 3 LSU baseball team avenged its series loss against Kentucky over the weekend, defeating UL-Lafayette in the Wally Pontiff Jr. Classic, 8-6, Tuesday night at Zephyr Field in New Orleans.
The Tigers (24-5, 5-4 Southeastern Conference) abused the Ragin’ Cajuns (15-11) for 10 hits, eight of them for extra bases, to erase a nightmarish weekend and pick up a much-needed win against a bitter in-state foe.
The Tigers hit the ground running. Senior second baseman Jared Foster got the Tigers going in the bottom of the first innings with a double down the left field line to put a runner in scoring position with nobody out. Foster advanced to third before junior shortstop Alex Bregman brought home Foster with a sacrifice fly.
Foster’s hit extended his hit streak to seven games, with senior third baseman Conner Hale following in his footsteps, extending his hit streak to seven games in the next at bat with a double to deep right field.
Senior designated hitter Kade Scivicque extended the hit streak of his own to 12 when he singled through the left side to drive home Hale and give the Tigers an early
2-0 lead. 
After a painless first inning, UL-Lafayette got to LSU senior pitcher Kyle Bouman. He allowed the Ragin’ Cajuns to load the bases with nobody out before giving up two-straight runs on walks to tie the game.
LSU sophomore pitcher Russell Reynolds replaced Bouman after only 1 1/3 innings pitched, getting out of the jam by forcing a double play to end the
inning.
Bouman allowed two runs on three hits and two strikeouts on the night. The senior walked three batters in his 40 pitches, hitting the strike zone only 18 times.
The Tigers responded to Reynolds’ quick outing with four runs in the next two innings. LSU hit two home runs during the span, a solo-shot from junior first baseman Chris Chinea in the second inning and a two-run blast from Scivicque in the third.
LSU’s two homers were accompanied by a one-run triple from Bregman to extend the Tigers’ lead to 6-2.
Chinea’s home run was his first to leave the park this season after an inside-the-park home run during the Tigers’ weekend series against Kentucky. Scivicque’s home run was his fourth of the season.
The Tigers faced three Ragin’ Cajuns pitchers through the first three innings with their six hits, chasing UL-Lafayette starter Connor Toups off the mound after only an inning.
After Reynolds escaped a bases loaded jam in the fourth, Bregman earned his third RBI of the night on a double to give the Tigers a 7-2 lead before tallying his fourth RBI in the sixth with a solo-shot to left field to make it 8-2. Bregman finished 3-for-3 on the night with four RBIs and three extra
base hits.
The Ragin’ Cajuns added four runs in the seventh to cut the Tigers’ lead to 8-6, but it was too little too late as the Tigers escaped victorious.
The Tigers now head to Hoover, Alabama, to take on Alabama in their weekend series beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday at Hoover Metropolitan
Stadium.
You can reach Jack Chascin on Twitter @Chascin_TDR.