With their respective aces on the hill, Friday night’s game between No. 15 LSU and No. 3 Arkansas figured to be a low-scoring affair.
But LSU (20-6) put on a batting clinic in the series opener, scoring 10 runs against a vaunted Arkansas (22-4) pitching staff to win the game 10-6.
The Tigers pounded out 17 hits in the contest, three of which were home runs. LSU saw multiple hit games from each of its Nos. 1-6 hitters.
But the home runs were the biggest surprise. LSU only had 12 home runs in its first 25 contests, but used three homers to power its offense Friday night.
It marked the first time since May 21, 2010 that LSU had three homers in a single contest.
Junior outfielder Raph Rhymes hit a two-run moonshot in the third inning, followed by solo shots by sophomore catcher Ty Ross and senior third baseman Tyler Hanover. It was the first home run of the season for all three.
But Hanover’s waited longer than the others. He hadn’t hit one since that May 21 contest in his sophomore season.
“I just put a good swing on it,” Hanover said. “It feels good to get the monkey off the it.”
While sophomore Kevin Gausman didn’t turn in his best statistical effort of the season, his gutty performance kept LSU in the game when it was close early.
Gausman allowed Arkansas to jump out to its only lead of the day in its five-run third inning. The inning itself was a bizarre one: Gausman struck out leadoff man Tim Carver, but did so on a wild pitch that allowed the speedy shortstop to reach base.
Then, all hell broke loose, as five batters later the Hogs had a five-run inning on the strength of a single, a double, a triple and a wild pitch.
“That’s the worst inning I’ve ever had,” Gausman said. “Everything that possibly went wrong, did. [LSU coach Paul Mainieri] told me if I wanted to get deep in the game I had to focus on my pitch count, and that’s what I did. I tried to get a lot of ground ball outs.”
Gausman settled down after his wild third inning, retiring 12 of the next 13 batters – seven by strikeout.
Though he only pitched 6.2 innings, Gausman recorded a career high with 12 strikeouts. Mainieri removed him from the game after he reached 122 pitches.
“I can’t say enough about Gausman’s performance on the mound,” Hanover said. “That was phenomenal. After that five-spot, he comes out there and just guts it out and we give him some hope and put ourselves back in the game.”
Sophomore Kurt McCune, formerly the Sunday starter, came on to throw a 1-2-3 ninth to secure the win for LSU.
“Taking the first one is important,” said junior outfielder Mason Katz. “We’re going to cherish this one for about an hour. Once midnight rolls around, it’s a new day. A series win would be big. Winning every series in the SEC is what you work for. Especially against a really good team in Arkansas.”
LSU improved its record to 4-3 in conference play with the win. Sophomore Ryan Eades (4-1, 2.04) will get the starting nod for LSU tomorrow against Arkansas sophomore Ryne Stanek (6-0, 1.25), with first pitch at 7 p.m.