There were two outs in the top of the seventh inning. Starting pitcher Jaden Hill was one out away from ending the inning. He stepped onto the mound, ready to face the third batter of the inning, but he wouldn’t get to. Coach Paul Mainieri came walking out of the dugout to pull his starter. Hill turned his head to look at his coach and knew his day was done.
The two stood on the mound with their arms around each other for a moment, looking at the jumbotron in Alex Box Stadium. Maybe they were looking at Hill’s stats. He pitched a career-high 6.2 innings, striking out six batters and giving up no runs and only four hits across the board.
“I only took him out because I didn’t want him to go beyond 100 pitches tonight,” Mainieri said. “He’s got a big start next Friday night against Mississippi State.”
Mainieri then patted Hill on the back and pointed at the LSU bullpen, motioning for Aaron George to come into the game. Hill handed Mainieri the ball and walked to the home dugout. A crowd of 3,164, one of LSU’s largest of the season, rose to their feet and applauded Hill after one of his best performances of his three-year career.
You have to backtrack to the inning prior for the real start to the Friday night showdown. UTSA’s starter Luke Malone was just as dominant as Hill. Through five innings, neither team had scored a run and LSU was held to just two hits, singles from Dylan Crews and Zach Arnold in the first and fifth innings, respectively. After so many high scoring LSU wins and losses lately, this was shaping up to be a rare pitcher’s duel.
Then, in the home half of the sixth inning, Cade Doughty smashed a solo home run to left field to get LSU on the board and Hill the lead he needed. It was Doughty’s second home run in his last three games.
“My previous at bats, I got a lot of curveballs and I didn’t get the job done,” Doughty said. “I got the sense that they were going to keep working breaking balls. I was able to recognize the pitch early and I just got a good swing on it and it ended up going over.”
Mainieri called on Devin Fontenot, with a one-run lead, to pitch the eighth inning. After some early season struggles in the ninth inning closer role, Mainieri began using Fontenot earlier in games with comfortable leads. He pitched a scoreless sixth inning in Tuesday’s win over Texas Southern and a scoreless seventh in Wednesday’s win in New Orleans against UNO. If Fontenot threw a scoreless eighth inning Friday, maybe he’d get that ninth inning job back.
Instead, Fontenot issued a walk and a base hit, putting two runners on base with just one out. Ma’Khail Hilliard quickly grabbed his glove, left the dugout and sprinted to the bullpen and began warming up. Fontenot got the second out, but Mainieri didn’t trust him to finish the inning. Hilliard replaced him, and the runner Fontenot walked to put on base ultimately scored and the game was tied.
“When you fall behind, it puts a lot of pressure on a team,” Mainieri said. “Keeping the game tied allowed us to have confidence going into the bottom of the inning. We didn’t flinch.”
LSU had two more innings to get a run home and avoid spoiling Hill’s spectacular outing. The Tigers had the top of their order due up. Crews led off with his second single of the game and Tre’ Morgan was hit by a pitch. Doughty hit a ground ball to the UTSA third baseman, he stepped on third base for the force out, but his throw to first base was wild. It allowed Morgan to reach third and for Doughty to get to second. Before Cade Beloso could step into the box, the Roadrunners decided to intentionally walk LSU’s cleanup hitter. It loaded the bases, but also brought the possibility of an inning-ending double play into the fold.
Gavin Dugas came to bat. It was his turn to be LSU’s hero, similar to his game-tying grand slam against Louisiana Tech earlier this season. Rather than a home run, UTSA got the ground ball they needed. Dugas hit one on the ground to the second baseman. They got the out at second base, but Dugas beat the throw. Morgan scored easily from third and Doughty, taking advantage of the UTSA first baseman’s lack of awareness, even scored from second. It was ruled a two-RBI fielder’s choice, and LSU retook the lead.
“We have a saying,” Mainieri said. “Luck is a residue of design. Had he struck out, nothing good would have happened. He put the ball in play and hustled and beat the throw.”
Hill, watching from the dugout, said Dugas looked, “like a cheetah,” running to first.
“Something magical always happens when Gavin’s in the box when it’s a clutch situation. We knew he was going to make something happen.”
Dugas said it was definitely the fastest he’s ever ran in his life.
“I knew I hit it hard, so I was just trying to get there as quick as possible,” he said.
With UTSA down to their final strike, the LSU fans that remained in attendance were as loud as they did when Hill exited back in the seventh. Garrett Edwards struck the batter out, sealing his perfect ninth inning for his first career save.
“Every year I tell my teams that your season will be defined by how you do in the close ball games,” Mainieri said. “In order to have a special season, you have to win the close ones.”
