LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri made an instinctive decision to insert then-freshman shortstop Austin Nola into the starting lineup last April 21.
Mainieri is still reaping the benefits of his switch a year later as Nola led LSU (32-6) to an 8-6 victory against Northwestern State (25-12) on Wednesday at Alex Box Stadium.Nola went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBIs to propel the Tigers to their sixth straight win.The Baton Rouge native is now hitting .321 with three home runs and eight RBIs during the win streak.”Oh man, has he been hot,” Mainieri said. “He’s got a lot of qualities that make him the best shortstop I’ve ever coached in 28 years.”With the game tied at 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Northwestern State shortstop Joshual Gardiner threw the ball into the stands on a ground ball by Nola to give the Tigers the lead for good, 7-6.Senior first baseman Blake Dean tacked on an RBI single to score Nola to extend the Tigers’ lead to 8-6.The normally sure-handed Nola committed two errors in the field. His second error in the top of the seventh inning allowed Northwestern State left fielder Eric     DeBlanc to score to tie the game at six.Sophomore outfielder Johnny Dishon saved Nola and kept the game tied with a diving catch on a low sinking line drive to end the frame.”I told [Nola] after the game, ‘All you did today was prove you were human,'” Mainieri said.The Tigers threw freshman Michael Reed on mound against the Demons, who entered the game with a 7.65 ERA. But Reed didn’t start the game how Mainieri envisioned.After hitting the leadoff batter, Northwestern State third baseman Chase Lyles launched a two-run homer off a first pitch fastball to give the Demons an early 2-0 lead.Reed forked up another two-run bomb three batters later when Demons second baseman Justin Martinez ripped one into the left field bleachers.Reed never made it out of the first inning following the two home runs and was pulled in favor of junior Ben Alsup.Alsup did a masterful job in relief for Tigers. He tossed four shutout innings and struck out three batters.The only base runners allowed by Alsup were a two-out infield single by Demons designated hitter Stephen Gandy in the top half of the fourth and a ground ball by Gardiner that barely got past Nola for a single in the top of the fifth.”You can’t really ask for anything more out of a guy coming out of the bullpen,” Nola said of Alsup, who entered the game with only 13 innings pitched all year.The Tigers got in the scoring column in the third inning with three straight doubles. Nola roped a double to score junior outfielder Leon Landry, and Dean followed with a shot down the right field line to score Nola, cutting the Demons’ lead to 4-2.Freshman outfielder Alex Edward scored on a wild pitch to trim Northwestern State’s lead to 4-3, and a sacrifice fly by Nola scored Dishon to even the score at 4-4.LSU took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth when Dishon led off the inning with a single, stole second and scored on an infield single by Nola, his third RBI of the night.A sacrifice fly by junior catcher Micah Gibbs extended LSU’s lead to 6-4.LSU freshman pitcher Jordan Rittiner picked up the win to push his record to 4-1, and junior Austin Ross pitched a perfect ninth inning to record his first save of the season.Mainieri said after the game he expects sophomore outfielder Mikie Mahtook, who has missed the past two games while dealing with an illness, to play this weekend against Ole Miss.—-Contact Sean Isabella at [email protected].