Sophomore Mason Katz is defying the odds.
The outfielder-turned-first baseman returned a week earlier than anticipated from a hand injury to hit 8-for-11 with five doubles and a home run during the weekend to catapult the LSU baseball team (28-17, 7-14) to its first Southeastern Conference sweep of the season against Kentucky (20-15, 4-17).
Katz, still sporting a brace on his throwing hand, capped the sweep Saturday afternoon going 3-for-5 with a home run and two doubles.
“I worked real hard with my injury, doing everything I could do to make sure when I came back my swing would be as good as possible, and it’s paying off,” Katz said.
The Tiger pitching staff whiffed just three batters Saturday but induced 17 combined flyouts and popouts.
“I don’t think they were ready for exactly what we were going to throw, especially at the beginning of the game just mixing pitches and letting them put it in play,” said senior pitcher Ben Alsup.
Alsup (6-4) surrendered four runs in 5 2/3 innings. He allowed only two runs before Kentucky senior right fielder Neiko Johnson delivered on a two-out RBI double in the sixth inning.
Alsup was then pulled for freshman pitcher Kevin Berry, who allowed an RBI double to the first batter he saw.
Berry buckled down, allowing just the one hit in 2 1/3 innings of relief.
“His slider was sharp, his fastball had some life to it, and that was the Kevin Berry we’ve seen for most of the year,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri.
The Tigers grasped a 3-0 lead in the first inning and never trailed as Kentucky booted the ball around for five errors.
The imposing first frame began with a walk by leadoff hitter Trey Watkins, who scored on a Katz RBI double to right field. Sophomore designated hitter Raph Rhymes smacked an RBI single, moved to second on an error and scored after stealing third on a single by junior third baseman Tyler Hanover.
LSU scored one run in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
With the Tigers nursing a 6-4 lead in the eighth inning, junior center fielder Mikie Mahtook added two insurance runs for junior pitcher Matty Ott on a two-run blast to left field.
“Even though we won the series in the first two games, we had to come out and play today,” Mahtook said. “This game was just as important as the first two.”
Ott retired the Wildcats in order in the ninth inning to cap the sweep in a non-save situation.
It didn’t seem like Ott would be needed in game one of the series Thursday night as the Tigers trailed, 5-1, entering the eighth inning.
That inning turned into the start of Katz’s blistering return and perhaps the turning point of LSU’s season as the Tigers rallied for eight runs — two of which came on wild pitches and another on a hit batter — before Ott finished off the Wildcats for a comeback 9-5 victory.
The Tigers didn’t have to battle back for a win Friday. LSU batted around in the second inning, scoring five runs on four hits to clasp an early 5-0 lead and go on to win, 12-4.
Freshman pitcher Kevin Gausman fired eight strikeouts and held the Wildcats to one run on two hits in seven innings. Rhymes and freshman second baseman JaCoby Jones notched three hits apiece and Katz went 4-for-5 in the game.
 
 
 
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contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]