LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri planned on going to his bullpen early and often in his No. 2 overall-seeded Tigers’ first game of the Baton Rouge Regional, treating it similarly to a midweek game.
He even noted that weather could play a factor in his decision making on who would toe the rubber from inning to inning.
Well, he was right.
Using seven different pitchers, the Tigers (49-10) waited out a two-hour, 17-minute weather delay and rebounded from a fourth-inning deficit to defeat No. 3 seeded Lehigh, 10-3, on Friday evening at Alex Box Stadium.
The array of LSU pitchers, including some Mainieri didn’t want to use today, only surrendered five hits, but they weren’t provided offensive support against Lehigh’s left-handed starting pitcher Nick Macaione through the first three innings. The Mountain Hawks’ (25-30) crafty senior hurler initially fooled Tiger batters with pitches that could dip into the high 60s or elevate into the mid 80s.
But after a flawless top of the first from Tiger sophomore starting pitcher Alden Cartwright – who only pitched one inning but was expected to pitch another before the delay – Mainieri said the rain coupled with Macaione’s early success derailed the LSU offense when play resumed.
“We had some really poor at-bats early in the game against their left-hander,” Mainieri said. “A lot of the credit goes to him. That’s a veteran pitcher with a lot of poise, and he was sinking his fastball … We just couldn’t stay back on him. We just didn’t have a good approach against him, and we made a lot of easy outs. Once he left the game and had more of a traditional pitcher in there [with] a little more velocity as a right-hander, we started to have some really good at-bats after that.”
Once LSU returned from the stoppage in play, Mainieri gave the ball to freshman right-hander Austin Bain, who had early success in the second and third innings but couldn’t quell the Lehigh offense in the top of the fourth.
Lehigh second baseman Mike Garzillo drilled a double into the left-center field gap to lead off the inning and scored a batter later on fielding error by LSU second baseman Jared Foster.
Later in the frame, designated hitter Patrick Walshe ripped a double down the left field line to score third baseman Patrick Donnelly from first. LSU senior catcher Kade Scivicque had a chance to tag Donnelly out at the plate but dropped junior shortstop Alex Bregman’s relay throw home.
The Tiger offense finally figured out Macaione in the bottom half of the inning, responding with a pair of runs of their own.
Following back-to-back singles from junior center fielder Andrew Stevenson and catcher Chris Chinea, both runners scored via a fielder’s choice from sophomore designated hitter Danny Zardon and a wild pitch by Macaione.
With junior Kevin Boswick taking over for Lehigh, the Tigers took the lead in the following inning when Scivicque singled home Bregman, who swiped second after being hit by a pitch. LSU recorded a school record of eight stolen bases in an NCAA Tournament game.
With LSU stealing bags seemingly every time a runner reached base, the offense recorded multiple-run frames in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, including an RBI double in the sixth by designated hitter Chris Sciambra.
Sciambra, who pinch hit for Zardon in the sixth, added an RBI sac fly in the seventh.
“I knew Danny would get the start against a lefty today, so I approached it like I have most of my career here coming off the bench,” Sciambra said. “I was just ready to swing. Whenever we got that guy to second, I was just looking to pull something and put something on the bat hard. I found a hole and just had a good at-bat. It was just the same approach I’ve had coming off the bench like I’m used to.”
After the Tigers evened the score, the bullpen did its job, allowing only one run through the next five innings. Lehigh threatened in the top of the seventh, but freshman reliever Doug Norman was able to get out of the inning with only one run allowed in the frame.
Sophomore righty Russell Reynolds and junior lefty Hunter Devall finished off the Mountain Hawks in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, to place LSU in the winner’s bracket of the regional.
While Mainieri wasn’t thrilled with his club’s performance tonight, he was happy to escape with a victory.
“Listen, I’m a coach,” Mainieri said. “I’m never totally satisfied. I just know that as the competition ramps up a little bit, we’re just going to need to play a little bit better as we go forward.”
LSU will play tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. against the winner of tonight’s game between the No. 2 seeded UNC Wilmington and the No. 3 seeded Tulane.