History will say the LSU baseball team (7-0) beat William and Mary (3-3) in a three-game series. The way it got those wins won’t be listed in the final score.In college baseball, individual games and statistics are often forgotten during the long season. But sometimes games come along that beg to be remembered.For LSU coach Paul Mainieri, game one of this series stood out as one of those games.”At the end of the year when all the games are tallied … we may not remember each game specifically, but this kind of game will stand out to you. … It was a memorable win in the end,” Mainieri said of LSU’s 10-9 victory Friday.LSU junior pitcher Austin Ross allowed no hits for four innings before a home run by William and Mary sophomore left fielder Stephen Arcure turned the Tribe’s bats red hot.Ross allowed four runs in the fifth inning before the Tigers switched to junior pitcher Ben Alsup. Alsup’s first batter, sophomore Tadd Bower, immediately blasted a home run to put the Tribe up, 5-0.Alsup gave up three more runs in the sixth, and the Tigers suddenly found themselves in an 8-0 hole.Enter LSU junior Mitch Mormann, who retired the remaining batters and allowed the Tiger offense a chance to climb its way out of the hole. They scratched, clawed and scored eight runs in the sixth inning to tie the game.Mormann held steady, allowing one earned run from three hits in his three innings at the mound. The Tigers tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning and ended the game the victors.LSU junior Micah Gibbs said he had never been part of such a big comeback before — LSU’s biggest since beating Ole Miss 15-13 in 1988 after trailing 13-3.”It felt good to do something like that. It’s very special,” Gibbs said. “Coach [Mainieri] always harps on not giving up, ever. Even down, you still have to play the game hard.”Scratching and clawing became the theme of the weekend for the Tigers, who played games two and three in a Sunday doubleheader thanks to a Friday thunderstorm.The Tigers won game two, 9-6, and game three, 7-4, but victory didn’t come easily against a William and Mary team that Mainieri said hung around “like a bad rash.”Hard hitting and aggressive base stealing helped the Tigers put away the Tribe. The Tigers had 23 hits in two games on Sunday, while junior center fielder Leon Landry tied an LSU record with four stolen bases in game three.In game two, both teams used a heavy rotation of pitchers in a heavy hitting game with a combined 24 hits between the two teams.William and Mary used four pitchers and allowed 13 hits, while LSU used five pitchers and allowed 11 hits.Game three saw the Tigers in another hole thanks to a comedy of errors in the first inning. With two runners on base, freshman third baseman Beau Didier threw to sophomore second baseman Tyler Hanover instead of tagging one of the runners out.Hanover couldn’t see the ball coming and missed it before picking it up and throwing it to sophomore right fielder Mikie Mahtook, who allowed both runners to score.The 3-0 deficit didn’t have quite the drama surrounding it as the first game did, as LSU quickly rallied to take the lead, helped by a two-run homer from senior designated hitter Matt Gaudet, his second of the day. The home run put LSU up, 6-3, with a double by sophomore shortstop Austin Nola bringing the final score to 7-4.Mainieri said all three games were a fight between two good teams who refused to give up.”William and Mary is a very scrappy team. They gave us everything we wanted plus more for 27 innings,” Mainieri said. “Everybody in the dugout kept saying ‘Man, we can’t put these guys away.’ They made some big pitches; they made some big plays … Their offense kept scratching some runs across. It was a tough, hard-fought series and we were very fortunate to win all three games.”The Tigers return to the field at 6:30 p.m. Thursday when they face Pepperdine at Alex Box Stadium.
 
 
 
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