The No. 6 LSU baseball team’s second game of their homestand against Auburn may have been the most exciting of the season.
LSU won the game in walk-off fashion as sophomore second baseman DJ LeMahieu lined a base hit to center field to bring in freshman shortstop Austin Nola from second base and give LSU the 7-6 win.
“Nola was the key to the inning,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “I just had a gut feeling about him… he got down two strikes. I knew he wouldn’t give up.”
Nola singled to start the inning. Senior Chris McGhee bunted to move Nola to second, and Auburn intentionally walked junior designated hitter Ryan Schimpf for junior outfielder Blake Dean, who struck out. That left it up to LeMahieu.
LeMahieu took advantage of the off-speed pitch from Auburn relief pitcher Austin Hubbard, who took the loss (2-2).
“His best pitch is the curveball,” LeMahieu said. “I knew he was going to try to get me out with it. I swung and missed on the first two curves. I was pretty confident here coming up for another one.”
LSU got back-to-back wind-aided home runs from junior outfielder Jared Mitchell and sophomore catcher Micah Gibbs in the seventh inning.
Freshman third baseman Tyler Hanover launched the first and only other home run of the game for LSU.
LSU senior Louis Coleman pitched seven innings, giving up 10 hits and six runs, all earned. Freshman Matty Ott took over for Coleman and pitched two innings of no-hit ball.
LSU found itself down 3-0, 4-1 and 6-5, but managed to get the win in the end.
“We had some guys in our dugout that just refused to quit,” Mainieri said. “We battled hard.”
 
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