LSU Baseball returned to Alex Box Stadium Friday to host the NCAA Regional, opening the four-team tournament with a 14-5 win against Marist College.
    Before the game, many Tiger fans may not have known who the Marist Red Foxes were. However the team, from Poughkeepsie, New York, soon got their attention in the first inning. LSU post-season slump seemed to continue when starter Justin Meier faced eight batters giving up four runs in four hits.
    ”I’m not surprised at all– we’ve been there before,” said Marist coach Joe Raccuia, of the game. “We played some teams earlier in the year. We played Tulane three times and took them to extra innings. We also played Virginia…tough for three games. I’m not shocked by it.”
    The Tigers responded in the bottom of the first with two runs, but the momentum did not pick up until LSU designated hitter Jordan Mayer blasted his fourth homerun of the season over the left field wall in the bottom of the sixth inning for a two-run homer to tie the game at five.
    ”Whenever [Marist] scored four in the first, the team just got together and said ‘you know we got to step it up’–especially for the seniors,” Mayer said. “This is the last post season for these guys so we took it into perspective that our season was in jeopardy. I think my homerun did a lot to turn the game around, but the others did so as well.”
    Once the Tigers caught up to the Red Foxes’ threat, their bats exploded with back-to-back homeruns by senior right fielder Nick Stavinoha and junior left fielder Quinn Stewart in the bottom of the seventh.
    ”Once the big guy [Mayer] got one up it kind of ignited us and then we got the bats going and started swinging with confidence after that,” said coach Smoke Laval.
    The homeruns were only the beginning of a nine-run outing over the next two innings leaving the Tigers with a 14-5 cushion and the victory.
    With such a large deficit, many Tigers got to see playing time and some even found new positions on the field. Laval sent five pitchers to the mound in the afternoon including freshman closer Eric English making his debut in post-season competition to close out the ninth.
    Junior left-hander Jason Determann saw time on the mound and also at first base.
    Other non-starters who competed for time against starters this season also made an appearance including shortstop Derek Hebert, catcher Dustin Weaver, first baseman Blake Gill and outfielder Bruce Sprowl.
    Red Fox pitcher Scott Chambers was tagged with the loss after giving up the back-to-back homeruns to put the Tigers over the top for good.
    ”We made some bad pitches, and they took advantage of them,” Raccuia said. “We played decently.”
    LSU will face the Rice Owls at 6 p.m. Sunday. The Owls defeated Northwestern State in the second game of the Regional Saturday night. LSU already faced Rice earlier in the season at Zephyr Field in New Orleans where the Tigers dominated the Owls 8-2. Marist College will face Northwestern State in the loser’s bracket at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon.