LSU’s weekend in Houston ended in walk-off fashion, but not in the way that it intended.
After scoring a tying 4-4 run in the top of the ninth inning, the Tigers (9-3) fell to the Texas Tech Red Raiders 5-4 from a walk-off infield single from Tech sophomore outfielder Tanner Gardner.
“It was tough loss, but I’m proud of the guys;I thought they played well in a lot of ways,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri in a press release. “We didn’t quite play well enough to pull it off against a good team. I’m not discouraged at all; our guys competed very hard and we were right there with a chance to win.”
In the top of the ninth, senior shortstop Kramer Robertson was walked with two outs, but a wild final pitch allowed senior left fielder Beau Jordan to come home and score the tying run from third base.
Senior pitcher Hunter Newman hit the first Tech batter he faced in the bottom of the ninth inning in Cody Farhat.
Newman then grounded out two more Tech batters, but intentionally walked two others to load the bases for the Red Raiders.
The strategy didn’t prevail.
Gardner singled within in the infield, and the ball appeared to bounce off of Newman’s foot. The hit brought home the game-winning run for the Red Raiders and capped LSU’s weekend in Houston.
Freshman pitcher Eric Walker started the game on the mound for the Tigers and went six innings total. He finished with one earned run, six hits, seven strikeouts, and no walks.
However, freshman pitcher Todd Peterson earned the loss on Sunday.
Peterson pitched ⅓ of an inning and picked up three earned runs and two hits on 24 pitches.
LSU and Texas Tech remained knotted up at 1-1 until the 7th inning.
An RBI single from sophomore center fielder Antoine Duplantis put the Tigers ahead 2-1 into the bottom of the 7th inning before Walker’s brief stint.
LSU finished the weekend in Houston 1-2 after previously falling to TCU on Friday, and defeating Baylor on Saturday.
The Tigers now head back home to face the University of San Diego at Alex Box Stadium on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
“Overall, there were a lot of positives this weekend,” Mainieri said. “When you play this caliber of competition, somebody’s going to win and somebody’s going to lose the game. I don’t think we played poorly this weekend, we just came up a little bit short today.”
