Unearned runs came in bunches for LSU on Saturday afternoon.
 
LSU (6-0) held a slim 3-2 advantage before scoring seven runs with two outs in the third inning, catapulting the Tigers to a 14-3 win against Holy Cross (0-2).
The inning could have ended before any damage was done. With Tigers on first and second base, junior shortstop Austin Nola hit a line drive to Holy Cross freshman second baseman Andrew Barry.
The ball popped out of Barry’s glove. He was too late to get the force out at second base and threw wide to first base to load the bases. It was one of three errors for Barry on the day.
Holy Cross junior pitcher Matt Croglio (0-1) then struck out sophomore right fielder Mason Katz for the second out but walked sophomore first baseman Alex Edward to bring in the first run of the inning, marking the second straight game the Crusaders walked in a run.
LSU scored on a wild pitch to stretch the lead to 5-2, and freshman catcher Ty Ross hit a blooper to left field, which scored two more for the Tigers.
LSU made it 9-2 with a two-run home run from freshman second baseman JaCoby Jones. Junior left fielder Trey Watkins was then hit by a pitch and stole second, and sophomore designated hitter Raph Rhymes brought Watkins in with his second double of the game.
“I think that is a good quality of a team,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “When the other team makes a mistake that you pounce on it and you kind of smell the blood in the water like a ravenous shark, and you go for it.”
Rhymes first double of the game in the first inning also scored Watkins after Rhymes missed a bunt earlier in the at-bat.
“I got the bunt for a hit, and I didn’t do a really good job on that,” Rhymes said. “So I figured I might as well hit a double and make up for it.”
Croglio walked two and struck out two in four innings. He gave up 11 runs but only three were earned.
Freshman pitcher Kurt McCune (2-0) threw four scoreless innings after surrendering a two-run home run in the top of the second.
“The first two innings were a little tough for me,” McCune said. “My arm just didn’t feel normal. By the third and fourth [innings] it kind of came around.”
After giving up the home run, McCune struck the next batter out and induced a fly out to Nola to end the second inning. He tossed three strikeouts, no walks and gave up one earned run in six innings.
“That reminded me of [former pitcher] Louis Coleman,” Mainieri said. “That’s what Coleman used to do, he’d give up a home run and strike the next batter out.”
Nola smacked a solo home run off the scoreboard in the fourth inning for his first long ball of the season. The Tigers added three more in the sixth inning on a Katz two-run triple and an Edward RBI single.
“I was thinking inside-the-parker,” Katz joked. “But I was slow out of the box.”
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]