LSU coach Paul Mainieri said he had a lump in his throat when he looked at Auburn’s lineup before the start of Friday night’s game.He had good reason for that, as Auburn entered the contest against LSU in Alex Box Stadium tied for the Southeastern Conference lead in home runs at 86 with Alabama.They left Alex Box on Friday with 89, but all were solo homers. Those three blasts were not enough to overtake LSU, as the home team came away with a 7-3 victory.No. 6 LSU (30-12, 11-7) vs. Auburn (25-16, 8-10)Sophomore Anthony Ranaudo (5-2) gave up all three of the homers.”I told him after he gave up the first one that if he kept only giving up solo home runs, we were going to win the game,” Mainieri said.Those were the only three mistakes he made all night, as he went eight innings, striking out a career-high 15 batters on 129 pitches.  He gave up six hits total on the night and walked only one.Ranaudo’s 15 strikeouts were the most for an LSU pitcher in a Southeastern Conference series since Kurt Ainsworth struck out 16 against Tennessee in 1999.”In my 27 years of coaching, that was one of my top pitching performances I’ve seen,” Mainieri said. “It was fabulous.”LSU junior designated hitter Ryan Schimpf hit a bloop double to center field to lead off the bottom of the first. He moved over to third on a groundout by junior right fielder Jared Mitchell before being driven in on a sacrifice fly by junior left fielder Blake Dean.Auburn answered back with a home run by shortstop Casey McElroy, his seventh of the season, to tie the score at one.Auburn left fielder Brian Fletcher hit his 13th homer of the season in the top of the fourth to put the War Eagles on top, 2-1.LSU tied the score in the bottom of the fourth when sophomore catcher Micah Gibbs grounded out to second to score freshman third baseman Tyler Hanover. The Tigers took the lead, 3-2, in the inning when freshman shortstop Austin Nola grounded to third to score freshman Mikie Mahtook on a throwing error.Auburn first baseman Hunter Morris hit a solo home run, his 11th of the season, in the top of the sixth to tie the game at three.Dean grounded into a 6-4-3 double play in the bottom of the sixth to score Haydel and put LSU up, 4-3.LSU sophomore second baseman DJ LeMahieu singled in Schimpf on the next pitch to give the Tigers a 5-3 lead.Schimpf tacked on another run in the bottom of the seventh with a sacrifice fly to deep center to score Gibbs and put the Tigers up, 6-3.LSU later added another run when Hanover hit a sacrifice fly to score pinch runner Leon Landry in the bottom of the eight to push the lead to 7-3.Junior Sean Ochinko sat out the game with a lingering hamstring injury. Senior Buzzy Haydel got the start at first base in place of Ochinko.Mainieri said after the game that Ochinko is not on the 25 man roster for the weekend series with the hamstring injury.LSU senior Louis Coleman will get the start on the mound for the Tigers on Saturday.The Tigers have yet to win the first two games of a weekend SEC series this season.
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Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]