No. 6 Cal State Fullerton probably wishes the eighth inning didn’t exist.
The No. 16 LSU baseball team took the lead in the eighth inning for the second straight game and retired the Titans in order in the ninth inning for a 7-6 win Saturday afternoon.
“It was a total team effort,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “They all battled tooth and nail right to the very end.”
Freshman catcher Ty Ross and freshman second baseman JaCoby Jones singled to start the eighth inning.
Sophomore designated hitter Raph Rhymes singled through the right side after junior left fielder Trey Watkins struck out, bringing junior third baseman Tyler Hanover to the plate with the bases loaded.
Hanover drew a full count walk on an outside pitch after starting the at-bat with a 3-0 count to bring home the winning run.
“He is a tough out,” Mainieri said. “If you get a runner to third base with less than two outs, there’s a pretty good chance he’s going to get him home some way.”
Junior pitcher Matty Ott then closed the door on the Titans in the ninth inning for his second save of the series with help from junior center fielder Mikie Mahtook, who made his second diving catch of the game.
“I was pleading, ‘Please, Mikie, make that catch,'” Mainieri said. “He made a phenomenal catch. His emotion and his effort [are] so inspirational to our team.”
The Tigers took advantage of Titan mistakes early as Fullerton committed three errors for the second straight game
Two of the three errors came on one play in the third inning.
Mahtook and Hanover were on second and third base, respectively, when Fullerton junior pitcher Tyler Pill threw behind Mahtook.
The throw was wild and went into center field, getting past the center fielder as both runners scored to put the Tigers ahead, 4-1.
Junior first baseman Grant Dozar started for sophomore first baseman Alex Edward and went 1-for-4, making his one hit count on an RBI double to left field, giving the Tigers a 5-2 lead after the Titans added one run in the fourth. Dozar scored on the next at-bat as freshman catcher Ty Ross smacked an RBI single to right field.
“That’s a big staple of this team is hitting in the clutch,” Dozar said. “That’s one thing I think the whole team takes pride in.”
Freshman pitcher Kevin Gausman went seven innings and gave up four runs, including a two-run home run in the sixth inning, which cut LSU’s lead to 6-4. It marked the Titans’ first home run of the season.
“I actually wanted to go all nine [innings],” Gausman said.
Freshman pitcher Ryan Eades ran into trouble in the eighth inning, giving up two runs in 1/3 of an inning, while sophomore Kevin Berry gave up one hit and no runs in the other 2/3 of the inning.