A strikeout is normally crippling to a baseball team’s offense. But the LSU baseball team used one in a 6-3 win Tuesday night against the University of New Orleans to ignite an offense that is last in the Southeastern Conference in team batting average. With UNO (16-11) holding a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, senior right fielder Steven Waguespack struck out but was able to advance to first base on a wild pitch by Privateer freshman John Cody. The Tigers (15-11-1) then responded with four consecutive hits, including back-to-back home runs by sophomore catcher Robert Lara and junior shortstop Michael Hollander to take a 5-2 lead, a lead that LSU would never relinquish. Lara and Hollander were a combined 5-for-7 with five RBI to lead the Tigers. Lara came into the game hitting just .167, and he said his three-hit game will take pressure off the rest of the lineup. “It felt awesome; it really did,” he said. “When the ball came off my bat, and I saw the outfielder stop chasing it I was like, ‘Gosh, finally.'” Lara, who is not known for his speed, was the subject of LSU coach Paul Mainieri’s interview following the game. “Going back with the theme of things I’ve never seen before, we had a Robert Lara infield hit,” he said. “I told him that he was only a triple short of the cycle.” Mainieri said although Hollander and Lara hit well, the Tigers are not as good as they should be offensively. “We’re still not clicking on all cylinders, but I thought there were three or four guys who swung the bats really well tonight,” he said. “Obviously Rob’s [Lara] three-run home run was a big blow, and it was not just a three-run homer. It was a great at-bat.” Sophomore Ryan Byrd (3-0) made his fourth start of the season, going seven innings and giving up three runs while striking out a career-high eight batters to get the win. The Privateers took an early fourth-inning advantage when sophomore second baseman Johnny Giavotella scored sophomore third baseman T.J. Baxter with a no-out triple to give UNO a 1-0 lead. Senior first baseman Greg Wolfe then sent home Giavotella on a sacrifice fly to give the Privateers a two-run lead before LSU’s five-run bottom half. The Privateers staged a sixth-inning rally, plating a run when Lara was not able to handle a pitch in the dirt. But the Tigers answered right back with a run in the bottom half. Hollander got a base hit to score Lara, who had a stand-up double with one out in the inning. Byrd also pitched out of a jam in the seventh, facing runners on second and third base before inducing Baxter to fly out to end the inning. Freshman pitcher Paul Bertuccini pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings for LSU to seal the victory. Mainieri said Bertuccini’s performance may have earned him a position in the bull pen in conference games. “He’s been doing a great job all year,” Mainieri said. “It’s just that he has not done it at the end of the game. So who knows, maybe we have found a guy who can get us the last outs of the game.” The Tigers return to action this weekend against the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Hollander said LSU is peaking at the right time heading toward that series. “We’ve had some unfortunate calls and some unfortunate bounces, but hopefully some of those bounces begin to go our way,” he said. “Our pitching has definitely been great, so it’s good that our hitting is finally coming around.”
—–Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]
A Private Affair
March 27, 2007