It seemed clutch hitting needed to improve for the No. 8 LSU baseball team after stranding seven runners on base Friday and 10 runners on base Saturday in two losses.
It didn’t.
LSU again left 10 runners on base Sunday and fell, 7-3, to top-ranked Florida, marking the first time LSU was swept at home since the 2006 season.
LSU jumped to a 3-0 lead before Florida answered with five runs in the top of the fourth inning.
The Gators smacked six hits in the inning off senior pitcher Ben Alsup. Sophomore catcher Mike Zunino started the scoring with a two-run single to left field.
Junior third baseman Jeff Moyer pinch hit for sophomore third baseman Cody Dent and smacked a two-out, two-run single to give the Gators a 4-3 lead. He came home on the next at-bat when sophomore shortstop Nolan Fontana ripped an RBI triple off the right field wall to stretch Florida’s lead, 5-3.
Alsup lasted four innings and was pulled after giving up a lead-off single in the fifth. He held the Gators scoreless in three of his four innings but was blasted for 11 hits in the game.
Florida added two insurance runs on solo home runs by senior second baseman Josh Adams and Moyer, who came off the bench and hit 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
LSU went ahead, 2-0, in the second inning on an RBI single from freshman second baseman JaCoby Jones and a sacrifice fly to right field by junior left fielder Trey Watkins but left runners on second and third base.
The Tigers extended their lead, 3-0, the next inning on a blazing ground ball by sophomore right fielder Mason Katz which tipped off Dent’s glove at third base.
The actual weekend attendance of 28, 215 set an Alex Box record for the second straight weekend.
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @TDR_Kavner