LSU junior designated hitter Blake Dean’s slump appears to be over after a slow start to the season.Fresh off a weekend when he went 6-for-12 with 10 RBI, Dean continued his torrid pace Tuesday night and crushed a third inning three-run home run to spark the Tigers’ 8-6 win against the University of New Orleans.”It can’t get much worse than it was, so you have to look at the bright side of things,” Dean said. “I’m pretty much to the point now where I am basically locked down and ready to start to get things rolling big time.”The home run was Dean’s only hit of the game, but the junior’s outs were all line drives and hard-hit balls.”It’s time now to where there’s no time to be losing midweek games,” he said. “It’s time to buckle down and play every game the way we’re supposed to play.”LSU took a 8-2 lead into the ninth inning, but the Privateers scored four runs off freshman pitcher Shane Riedie to bring the tying run to first base.But LSU junior Paul Bertuccini struck out UNO centerfielder Ryan Eden to cool the UNO flame.
“I was so glad Shane Riedie pitched a great inning in the eighth inning,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “It looked like he was in a groove, but then all of a sudden, he just lost it there in the ninth inning and put us in a difficult situation there.”
LSU was also in a difficult situation early on when UNO freshman catcher Kyle Maldonado hit a two-RBI double off LSU starter Jordan Nicholson to give UNO a 2-0 lead.
That inning was Nicholson’s last as the sophomore allowed four hits and two runs in his two innings of work.
Sophomore Daniel Bradshaw relieved Nicholson and slowed the UNO offense and threw five scoreless innings and allowed just two hits to set the stage for LSU’s third-inning rally.
“Bradshaw was the key to the game, really,” Mainieri said. “He gave us five innings in less than fifty pitches, which was amazing.”
The West Monroe native was retiring Privateer hitters early in the count with a sinking fastball that UNO hitters were not able to hit out of the infield.
“I call [that pitch] my sinker, but it runs more like a two-seamer,” he said. “I had been working on keeping the ball down and trying to get guys to turn over on it and get ground balls.”
The Tigers return to the field tomorrow against Nicholls State.
The Colonels come into the game with a 15-18 record on the season.
But Nicholls State comes into the game struggling and have lost 11 of its past 16 games.
Mainieri said freshman Chris Matulis will start on Wednesday against the Colonels. Matulis is 4-1 on the season with a 4.41 ERA.——Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]