The No. 1 LSU baseball team silence Arkansas’ bats in Game 2 to tie the series with a 16-3 victory Friday night.
LSU freshman pitcher Alex Lange got his fifth win of the year in dominating fashion, freezing the Razorbacks’ (11-10, 1-4 Southeastern Conference) bats for only three hits with six strikeouts in his seven innings pitched.
Lange has been on a roll as of late. Lange was coming off of his best performance as a Tiger after going eight innings while striking out 13 batters against Ole Miss for SEC Freshman of the Week recognition.
Lange leads the team in ERA (1.45), strikeouts (45) and opposing batting average (.185). Lange has walked only eight batters this season while allowing only five earned runs. Coming into tonight, Lange was ranked third in the SEC in strikeouts, fifth in ERA and first in batters struck out looking with 14.
Lange retired the first nine batters he faced before fizzling off in the fourth. Lange gave up a run, two hits and a walk in the fourth to halt his perfect game bid. Lange threw 26 pitches through the first three innings before throwing 25 in the fourth.
The Lee’s Summit, Missouri, native escaped a bases-loaded jam with only one-run of damage, getting Arkansas second baseman Rick Nomura to strike out swinging for his fourth strikeout on the night to end the inning.
After the Tigers (20-3, 3-2 SEC) were shut down by the Razorbacks in Game 1, they took no time to jump on the home team Friday night. The Tigers collected 21 hits, 18 of them for singles, in their route of of rival Arkansas.
The Tigers wasted no time, racking up two runs on three hits in the opening frame. LSU senior designated hitter Chris Sciambra started the game off with a five pitch walk.
Sciambra, who was appointed the leadoff spot Friday night over sophomore left fielder Jake Fraley, made immediate noise finishing 1-for-5 with four RBIs. Three of Scrambra’s RBIs came on a triple down the right field line as part of a four-run fifth inning for the Tigers to extend their lead to 8-1.
LSU junior shortstop Alex Bregman laid down a sacrifice bunt two batters later to advance the lead runners to second and third with only one out. Senior third baseman Conner Hale put the Tigers on top in the next at bat with a hard hit single off the pitcher, scoring Sciambra from third for a 1-0 lead. The RBI was Hale’s 20th on the season.
Senior catcher Kade Scivicque extended the Tigers’ to lead to 2-0 on a one-run single to left field. Arkansas pitcher James Teague battled out of the one-out jam to strand two LSU runs and end the inning.
Teague continued to battle, escaping the third inning with runners on second and third to keep the Razorbacks within two, but Arkansas couldn’t find an answer for Lange.
The Tigers’ offense gave Lange plenty of favors, chasing Teague off the mound after only three innings pitched. Teague finished his outing with four earned runs after being responsible for two more runs in the fourth. LSU collected seven hits off of Teague on only 54 pitches.
LSU looks to avoid losing its first series to Arkansas in four years when they trot out freshman pitcher Jake Godfrey for his first road SEC start Saturday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Baum Stadium.