Coming in as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the seventh, LSU freshman outfielder Chris Reid stepped to the plate with a man on first, lifting Fordham reliever Ryan Remo’s 0-1 offering into shallow left field
The ball tailed and landed just inside the left field line and rolled underneath the Ram bullpen bench, where it stuck. As freshman third baseman O’Neal Lochridge rounded the bases, Fordham left fielder Ryan McNally threw his hands up to signal a dead ball. According to the ground rules at Alex Box Stadium, a fielder must play the ball if it is visible.
McNally eventually did reach for the ball and tried to relay it home, but it was too late as Reid crossed the plate for an inside-the-park home run. But at that point of Saturday’s doubleheader, the rout was already on, finally ending with a 15-1 Game 2 victory for the No. 6 Tigers (8-2).
Backed by senior left-hander John Valek II one-run, three-hit outing in five innings, the LSU offense stayed hot, picking up 13 hits in its third series win of the season.
The Tigers will play Game 3, the second part of today’s doubleheader, at 6:30 p.m. With a more than hour break between games, LSU coach Paul Mainieri said he’s hopeful his team can keep the offensive momentum going into the final game of the series.
“It’s a little bit of a concern because you almost like one game to go right into the next, so they don’t get mentally lazy,” Mainieri said. “But once the game started to become one sided, it was an opportunity to get some other guys into the game and keep the regulars from getting hurt.”
After an 11-hit, 12-run night on Friday, LSU carried over its offensive momentum in the bottom of the first inning as sophomore left fielder Beau Jordan ripped a two-out double near the left field line, scoring junior center fielder Jake Fraley.
With Valek (3-0) rolling through the first two innings, giving up his first walk after facing 52 batters in 13.3 innings up to that point, LSU piled on five runs in bottom of the second. For the second time in as many plate appearances this weekend, junior catcher Jordan Romero smacked a solo home run over the left field wall, giving him a team-leading three home runs on the season.
“He’s hitting the ball hard,” Mainieri said. “He’s having some real quality at-bats. Obviously, his home run got us going.”
Then, aggressive baserunning from freshman third baseman O’Neal Lochridge and junior second baseman Cole Freeman put both runners in scoring position following Freeman’s single. With the infield playing in, junior shortstop Kramer Robertson drove two-run single past Fordham shortstop Joseph Devito.
One batter later, Fraley gave the Tigers a six-run advantage on a two-run bomb over the left-center field wall, his first of the season.
After Valek retired the side in order in the top of the third, Fordham scratched across a run in the fourth on left fielder Ryan McNally’s leadoff double and catcher Justin Bardwell’s two-out RBI single.
Disappointed he didn’t retire the side with no damage done, Valek slammed the ball into the ground after snagging a line drive for the final out the frame.
“I was just a little frustrated I gave up that one run, but I cooled off,” Valek said. “All in all, it was a good day.”
The Akron transfer then worked around a two-out single in the top of fifth, ending his outing with three strikeouts while walking just one hitter.
“I thought he was going to pitch a no-hitter today after a while,” Mainieri said. “He was carving them up. But they got to him a little bit, and his pitch count got up a little bit. I just felt once that inning started to get a little bit long there, after 81 pitches, that was enough for him.”
“My changeup was working really well,” Valek continued. “The first few I threw didn’t feel that great. I just kept throwing it, kept trusting it. It got better. My curveball was pretty good. I don’t think my fastball command was as good as it was last week. But, obviously, it was still good enough for me to be successful.”
Though LSU had a comfortable lead going into the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers once again blew the game open in the middle innings, like last night.
The Tigers notched two runs in the bottom of fifth without a hit in the inning. Beau and Bryce Jordan scored on a wild pitch and fielder’s choice, respectively, after both being hit by pitches. The twin brother have combined to be hit by eight pitches this season.
LSU picked up three more runs after three straight one-out singles, a fielder’s choice and another wild pitch. After Reid’s two-run, inside-the-park home run, Romero’s two-run double and Lochridge’s RBI sacrifice fly in the eighth capped the monstrous scoring output.
After Valek’s five innings, four LSU relievers combined to hold the Rams hitless through the final four innings, including sophomore right-hander Austin Bain, who struck out the side in order in the eight.
For Game 3, Mainieri said freshman Trey Dawson will start at third base and sophomore Greg Deichmann will play first base.
Mainieri is also sitting Bryce after suffering from an ankle injury in the first game. He collided with a photographer during the top of the third but stayed in the game after receiving brief attention from an LSU trainer.