Tulane waved goodbye early Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium
LSU freshman starter Ryan Eades pitched a career-long six innings and received a four-run cushion after two innings as the LSU baseball team silenced the Green Wave, 6-2.
Eades allowed one run and just two hits to lead LSU (29-17) to its first five-game winning streak since Southeastern Conference play began.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Slidell native in the top of the first inning as Tulane (26-19) smacked a leadoff single on the first pitch of the game and put men on the corners.
Eades, who walked a batter in three of the first four innings, worked out of the jam by inducing a flyout to left field.
Tulane put a runner on third base with two outs in the second inning as well, and Eades avoided damage again by forcing a groundout to freshman second baseman JaCoby Jones.
Tulane freshman pitcher Wade Konvicka forced two quick outs to start the bottom of the first inning before junior center fielder Mikie Mahtook smacked a towering fly ball to left field which barely cleared the fence despite the wind breezing toward right field.
The Tigers managed just one run in the first inning before quadrupling their total an inning later.
Sophomore right fielder Alex Edward and junior shortstop Austin Nola both walked to start the second inning. Sophomore designated hitter Raph Rhymes then brought in Edward with an RBI single to right field on a textbook hit-and-run to stretch LSU’s lead to 2-0.
Freshman catcher Ty Ross tacked on another run in the next at-bat with a safety squeeze down the first base line. After a Jones walk and a double steal, junior left fielder Trey Watkins shot a sacrifice fly to the warning track in left field to score Rhymes and give the Tigers a 4-0 lead.
Rhymes went 2-for-3 in the game, helping LSU chase Konvicka after two innings. The freshman walked three batters and gave up two hits without throwing a strikeout.
Junior third baseman Tyler Hanover tallied the Tigers’ fifth run in the fourth inning on a throwing error before Tulane junior catcher Jeremy Shaffer put the Green Wave on the board in the sixth inning with a solo home run off Eades for Tulane’s second hit of the night.
Hanover answered with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to regain a five-run lead for LSU.
Sophomore pitchers Kevin Berry and Jimmy Dykstra retired all six Tulane batters they faced.
Tulane threatened in the ninth inning scoring a run on three hits off freshman pitcher Forrest Garrett before Ott entered and retired the next two Green Wave hitters.
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