LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri had a simple response when asked if he was hard on his team following Wednesday night’s 3-1 loss to Nicholls State.
“Yes,” Mainieri said with a smile. “I’ll just leave it at that.”
The Tigers responded to their coach’s criticism and took out their frustrations on Tennessee on Friday night by pounding out 17 hits in a 18-3 win.
“We came out and practiced hard yesterday,” said junior outfielder Jared Mitchell. “I think our practice yesterday had more to do with tonight than what happened on Wednesday night.”
Mainieri did not give specifics as to what the Tigers did on Thursday, but it worked immediately as the Tigers (28-10, 11-5) scored three runs in the first inning off Tennessee starter Aaron Tullo.
Junior second baseman Ryan Schimpf led off the scoring and hit a solo home run to left center field — his 10th home run of the season.
Four batters later with the bases loaded, sophomore DJ LeMahieu laced a two-RBI double to left-center field that scored junior designated hitter Blake Dean and junior first baseman Sean Ochinko.
The top three hitters in the LSU batting order — Mitchell, Schimpf and Dean — combined to go 8-for-10 on Friday with eight RBI.
“We had some really good at bats tonight,” Mainieri said. “I think the story of the game was that we did not give away at bats.”Mitchell added two more runs for the Tigers in the second inning and hit a two-run home run over the left-center field fence.
Mitchell was 2-for-3 and tied his career high with five RBI in the game.
The Tigers ran Tullo out of the game in a five-run third inning rally.
Sophomore center fielder Leon Landry led off the scoring with an RBI double, and Mitchell capped it with a three-RBI triple with the bases loaded to help give LSU a 10-0 lead.
The double-digit lead only lasted for a half inning as Tennessee (17-22, 3-13) scored three runs in the fourth inning thanks in part to a two-run home run by third baseman Tyler Horne.
But the lead was plenty enough cushion for Tigers sophomore starter Anthony Ranaudo who allowed just four hits and three runs in his seven innings to improve to 4-2 on the season.
Ranaudo has been one of LSU’s most consistent pitchers all season with a 2.82 ERA.
But the team has struggled scoring runs on Friday nights, which has cost Ranaudo a few wins this season.
“We knew we had this in us on a Friday night,” Ranaudo said. “It was just a matter of time. I’ve been saying it all year that we were just bound to break out like we did in this one.”
LSU added a run in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Ochinko that scored Dean, who had a two-out double.
Dean continued his sizzling streak at the plate and was 4-for-4 for the game.
LSU pushed the lead to 13 in a five-run sixth inning.
Dean recorded an RBI hit in the inning, and freshman third baseman Tyler Hanover had a two-RBI hit in the inning.
Senior Nolan Cain and sophomore Jordan Nicholson pitched the eighth and ninth innings to close the door on Tennessee.
 
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