Most of the talk in the preseason involved the 16 first-year players expected to contribute to the LSU baseball team. It didn’t take long to see why.
Freshmen pitchers Kevin Gausman and Ryan Eades threw a combined eight innings and freshman second baseman JaCoby Jones went 3-for-3 at the plate with a home run and two RBIs as No. 15 LSU (2-0) edged Wake Forest, 4-3, Saturday afternoon.
The Demon Deacons fell to 0-2 on the season.
“During the game you wish you’d beat them by 10,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “But in the end when you have to hold on and show the poise and get the quality relief pitching and make the plays in the field, your team is better off for it.”
Gausman gave up two earned runs in the first two innings but settled down, striking out six and walking none in 5 2/3 innings.
“I’ve always been like that,” Gausman said. “If someone’s going to get runs or hits off me it’s always going to be early in the game when I haven’t found my rhythm.”
Eades surrendered one run in 2 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out three Demon Deacons.
LSU trailed, 2-0, going into the bottom of the second inning when Jones put the Tigers on the board, 2-1, with a two-out single which brought in sophomore outfielder Mason Katz.
Junior second baseman Tyler Hanover contributed in the fifth inning with a successful safety squeeze bunt to tie the game, 2-2. He had a bunt single in the first inning which stayed right down the third base line.
“I thought it was important for us to finally get that game tied up,” Mainieri said. “We had a couple of other situations where we floundered as far as trying to get the game tied up or take the lead and I just didn’t want to let that opportunity go by.”
Jones’ solo home run in the seventh inning put the Tigers ahead, 3-2, and junior outfielder Mikie Mahtook added a much-needed insurance run in the eighth inning with his third home run of the series.
Eades started the ninth inning but gave up a solo home run and put a runner on first. When Wake Forest junior infielder Carlos Lopez hit what would have been a go-ahead home run just foul down the left field line, junior pitcher Matty Ott entered the game and retired the side for his first save of the season.
“In the very end if you have the poise and composure to get that last out before they tie the game or go ahead, then that shows the mark of a championship caliber team,” Mainieri said.
LSU can sweep the series with a win tomorrow at noon with freshman Kurt McCune on the mound.
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]