LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri is often aware of public perception of his teams, especially in a year when his No. 15 Tigers haven’t breezed through their schedule.
In fact, he’ll acknowledge that talk of the team taking a step back after a sub-.500 mark to start conference play can be vexing.
“We’ve got a pretty rich history and tradition in baseball at this school,” Mainieri said Saturday night. “Every so often, it gets under our skin a little bit when everybody starts [to] take for granted our level of success. It’s like we have to constantly be proving ourselves.”
But even he knows what a series win against No. 6 Vanderbilt could do for the credibility of this year’s youthful squad.
In his mind, though, Saturday’s 3-2, series-clinching win wasn’t a statement victory. It was affirmation of what he already believed to be true.
“It showed that we’re capable of beating good teams,” Mainieri said. “Vanderbilt is a good team, but we think we’re a good team. I’ve got all the respect in the world for them. But we’re not afraid of them — we’re not afraid of any team. We’re LSU.”
Despite Vanderbilt eluding the sweep with a late run surge Sunday, the first series win against the Commodores since 2005 was achieved with two vastly different results: a 13-4 blowout on Thursday and a 3-2 pitcher’s duel on Friday.
On Thursday, the Tigers were opportunistic with less than two outs from the jump, scratching two runs across on junior center fielder Jake Fraley’s RBI fielder’s choice in the first inning and sophomore catcher Michael Papierski’s RBI sacrifice fly in the second.
The Tiger bats erupted in third, sending 11 batters to the plate in the course of tacking on seven runs on six hits.
Sophomore first baseman Greg Deichmann hammered a double off the center-field wall and sophomore left fielder Beau Jordan launched a two-run home run three at-bats later. Junior second baseman Cole Freeman tallied the final extra base hit in the frame with a run-scoring triple into the left-field corner.
The Tigers’ 15-hit night highlighted one of three double-digit hit performances, combining for 36 total hits and 23 runs against a pitching staff with the second best ERA in the Southeastern Conference.
“Offensively, I thought it was a great weekend in terms of us being able to handle above-average pitching,” said hitting coach Andy Cannizaro Sunday evening. “Us being able to handle real velocity for three straight days.”
That offensive burst was more than enough for junior lefty Jared Poche’, as he cruised through seven innings of scoreless baseball with eight strikeouts. Poche’ allowed just four hits — only one after the third inning — and allowed only one leadoff hitter to reach the basepaths.
Unlike Poche’, sophomore right-hander Alex Lange found himself in trouble from the opening at-bat, conceding a solo home run off the bat of Vanderbilt leadoff hitter Ro Coleman. Lange was then forced to pitch around two walks to escape the frame, but he settled in the second inning.
After the two-out walk in the first, Lange retired 14 of the next 15 batters, notching five of his nine strikeouts during that period, before another solo home run in the sixth. Still, Lange struck out the final two batters of that inning and left the game with one out in the seventh, holding on to a 3-2 lead.
That’s when junior reliever Hunter Newman stepped in and was equally effective, if not more so, than Lange. Newman punched out six of 10 batters he faced over the final 2.2 innings of the game, contributing to a five-hit performance with Lange.
With the series win already in the Tigers’ back pocket Saturday, Lange echoed his coach’s sentiment about LSU affirming its capabilities.
“It’s a big morale booster,” Lange said Saturday night. “It’s a big confidence booster. It’s showing all these young guys that we can do it, and it’s not just a bunch of talk. … This team is capable of going far and doing some damage in this thing. It’s pretty fun that they’re buying into it and figuring it out.”