After a back-and-forth affair, No. 10 LSU defeated No. 1 Florida 5-4, extending its win-streak to 10 games.

“I’m so proud of our team,” LSU (38-16, 18-10 Southeastern Conference) coach Paul Mainieri said. “Just the way that they developed through the year. They keep fighting, and people give up on them. But they just keep going out there and battling hard.”

None of LSU’s hitters seemed intimidated by a Florida (43-10 18-9 SEC) pitching staff that leads the SEC in ERA and strikeouts.

Well, at least LSU’s 9-1-2 hole hitters.

Freshman rightfielder Antoine Duplantis, junior second baseman Cole Freeman and junior center fielder Jake Fraley provided the spark the Tigers needed on offense. The three of them combined to hit 9-for-13, with three RBIs and one walk.

All other Tiger hitters were a combined 3-for-22.

But, two big swings, one by Freeman and another by junior shortstop Kramer Robertson changed the outcome of the game.

In the bottom of the sixth, Freeman stood tall in the batter’s box with two outs facing a 0-2 count, he made contact on his biggest hit of the season.
The 5-foot-9 infielder smacked a double to left field to break a 2-2 tie between LSU and Florida. First baseman Greg Deichmann, not known for his speed, hustled all the way from first and barely made it home for the score.
“Cole Freeman was the MVP of the night,” Robertson said. “He had clutch hits for us, clutch plays. In my opinion, he’s the best nine-hole hitter in the country. He did what he’s done all year. It was truly a team effort tonight.”  

The other big swing for the night was Robertson’s game-winning RBI-single in the bottom of the eighth.

Robertson stepped up to the plate 0-for-3 on the day, but when he entered the batter’s box this time, he “flushed” those bad at-bats to hit the game-winning RBI.

“The kid knows how to step up,” Freeman said. “He’s clutch. If we need a big hit in some part of the game, we got a good feeling when he’s up at the plate.”

Florida pitcher A.J. Puk, a projected No. 1 overall pick in next June’s Major League Baseball Draft, only lasted two innings, but not because he wasn’t effective. Puk (2-3) had been dealing with a stomach bug and was pitching a shutout before he left the game.

Enter Florida junior pitcher Dan Danning.

The Tigers were aggressive against Dunning (4-2), attacking him early in the count, which gave LSU modest success. Seven of its 12 hits and three of its runs in the game came against Dunning.

“Most people think we were really happy that Puk went out,” Robertson said. “We were actually a little disappointed when he came out of the game, because we knew they were just going to bring one arm after another. They have so many arms, it never got any easier for us.”

Game one, which was suspended due to severe weather on Thursday, will continue Saturday at 11 a.m. It’ll pick back up in the bottom of the third, where Duplantis was at-bat with one out and a runner in scoring position.

The final game of the series will be right after game one at 2:30 p.m.
“We’re not done yet,” Robertson said. “We’re not satisfied with just one win. We want to come out here and play well tomorrow and see if we can another one tomorrow or two.”