Sophomore right-hander Alex Lange struck out 11 of the 30 batters he faced in 6.1 innings, and junior shortstop Kramer Robertson delivered ground balls with runners in scoring position to help plate runs in his final two at-bats, allowing No. 13 LSU to win Game 2 against No. 2 Texas A&M, 3-2, at Blue Bell Park in College Station, Texas.
Though the Tigers (16-6, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) held a 1-for-11 clip with runners in scoring position, LSU tied the game in seventh and regained the lead in the ninth by manufacturing runs with less than two outs.
The win ended the Aggies’ (20-3, 3-2 SEC) 19-game home winning streak.
Lange surrendered a two-out walk in the first and consecutive one-out singles in the second, but he mostly commanded through his first four innings. The All-American ace provided inning-ending strikeouts in the first, second and fourth innings. He stranded runners at first base in the first and third innings and runners at first and second base in the second.
With Lange cruising, the LSU offense scratched a run across in the bottom of the third. Junior second baseman Cole Freeman led off with a single and stole second base. With two outs in the frame, freshman right fielder Antoine Duplantis reach the basepaths on a slow roller, which was bobbled Texas A&M first baseman Hunter Melton.
The fielding error allowed Freeman to score, giving LSU its first lead of the series.
Entering the fifth, Lange had struck out eight, given up just two hits and had walked only two, having retired eight of the last nine hitters he faced. But Aggie designated hitter Ronnie Gideon ignited the Texas A&M offense in a big way to lead off the bottom of the sixth, drilling a solo home run over the left-center field wall.
Then, Lange walked nine-hole hitter George Janca before recording the first two outs of the inning. Leadoff hitter J.B. Moss’ sacrifice fly moved Janca to third base, and third baseman Boomer White later scored Moss on an RBI single, which was hit away from a shift, to take a 2-1 lead.
Lange then labored through the sixth inning after picking up the first two outs of the inning, but he escaped a bases-loaded jam with no damage done. A two-out single by center fielder Nick Choruby and two straight walks, one of which was intentional, put runners at every base.
The second-year Tiger hurler, however, battled back from 3-0 count against Moss, punching him out on a 3-2 breaking ball. The strikeout was Lange’s 11th of the game, giving him 41 through six starts.
Lange returned for seventh on 105 pitches, which was already his highest of the season, and was eventually pulled for junior righty Hunter Newman after a leadoff walk and foul out. Newman then induced a flyout to center field by Melton, and sophomore catcher Michael Papierski gunned out Ryne Birk as he tried to swipe second base.
LSU couldn’t do much offensively against Aggie starting pitcher Tyler Ivey, as Ivey lasted 5.2 innings with seven strikeouts and just one walk. But the Tigers scrapped their way to another run in top of the seventh against Mark Ecker, the second of five Texas A&M relievers that would appear.

Freeman, who finished the night two-for-three at the plate, drove a one-out double into left field and moved to third base on a pass ball. Robertson provided the first of two clutch at-bats, chopping a fielder’s choice up the middle to score Freeman.
Coupled with sophomore first baseman Bryce Jordan’s stretch, Robertson’s backhanded stop and long throw prevented Aggie first baseman Nick Banks from reaching to lead off the top of the eighth. In the second inning, Jordan took a pitch off the chin area but remained in the game after being examined by team trainer Cory Couture.
After giving up a single, Newman struck out the third hitter of the inning but was replaced by freshman right-hander Caleb Gilbert, who struck out Janca with runners on first and second.
It was Robertson again coming through for LSU in the top of the ninth with the game knotted at two runs apiece. Sophomore third baseman Greg Deichmann led off with a bloop single against Ecker and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Cole Freeman.
With Deichmann at second base, Birk couldn’t snare Robertson’s hard ground ball, allowing Deichmann to score on the fielding error for a 3-2 lead.
Gilbert returned for the ninth and faced Banks with runners on the corners and two outs. Banks, who had already struck out twice in the game, became Gilbert’s third strikeout victim, ending the game and evening the series.
Game 3 begins at 2 p.m. tomorrow.