Friday afternoon’s heat was not enough to stop 6,536 fans from attending LSU’s NCAA Regional matchup with Texas Southern. And Texas Southern’s pitchers could not bring enough heat to stop two of LSU’s top hitters from giving those fans a reason to cheer.
After each went 2-for-3 with a home run to clinch the Southeastern Conference tournament title Sunday against Ole Miss , LSU junior first baseman Matt Clark and sophomore designated hitter Blake Dean continued to tear up opposing pitching in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
And they did not waste any time doing it.
Dean drove home the Tigers’ first three runs with a bomb to center field in the bottom of the first inning.
Clark hit a home run of his own two batters later, barely clearing the left field wall and the out-stretched glove of Texas Southern outfielder David James.
“They got us off to a good start,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri.
The two home runs were enough to spark LSU’s 12-1 victory.
While the four-run first inning would have been enough to hold off Texas Southern, Dean and Clark were not done.
The two would team up again with hits in the bottom of the sixth inning. After a ground out by LSU junior right fielder Derek Helenihi, Dean hit a blast into the parking lot behind right field to stretch the Tigers’ lead to 7-0. Clark followed by smashing a double off the right field wall two batters later.
“If I hit a home run, two batters later he’s hitting one,” Dean said. “So I feel I have no pressure up there. I just feel locked in. I feel confident. I don’t have to over-do anything, and that just puts me at ease.”
Clark finished 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI from his first-inning home run.
Dean closed the day 2-for-4 with two runs and four RBIs from his two long balls.
“Lately I’ve gotten good pitches to hit,” Dean said. “I’ve been seeing the ball well. I think the two times I got out, I got myself out.”
While Mainieri recruited Clark to LSU to hit, the second-year coach said Dean’s offensive production was not something LSU expected when the Crestview, Fla., native arrived in Baton Rouge.
“He was recruited here as a pitcher by the previous coaching staff,” Mainieri said. “A year ago – I’m talking about his freshman year – before we ever practiced officially, he was taking some cuts in the batting cages one day. And I happened to be walking by, and I stopped and watched him take about five cuts. And I turned to Beau Lowery, our trainer, and said, ‘Who’s that?'”
Mainieri said he immediately recognized Dean’s potential and told Lowery he could be an all-SEC hitter.
“You can’t build a swing that looks like that,” Mainieri said. “Not many people have a swing like that.”
Mainieri said he is not surprised by Dean’s recent hot streak.
“He’s showing now what he’s capable of being,” Mainieri said. “Look at the numbers now that he’s putting up. I thought he was capable of doing this all along.”
—-Contact Jerit Roser at [email protected]