Pitchers bolster offene toward sweep
Hurlers’ grand slams jolt LSU past Mercer
   LSU baseball coach Smoke Laval came into last weekend’s series with Mercer hoping for a better offensive showing from the LSU baseball team.
By Sunday afternoon, the first-year LSU coach could sleep a little better, as the No. 2 Tigers (6-1) found their hitting stroke, scored 33 runs and swept the Bears (3-6) back to their home state of Georgia.
Outstanding performances from Tiger pitching plus clutch hitting helped the Tigers to their first two wins of the series 7-4 Friday and 9-6 Saturday, before exploding offensively with a 17 1 win Sunday.
“I’m pleased because I think we got better every game,” Laval said. “That part makes you rest a little easier. It’s still early and it took us a while to get it. Hopefully the kids will pick up on that and have a good time.”
The series took a wrong turn for Mercer Saturday afternoon in the seventh inning, with the Bears holding a 6-3 lead. The Tigers loaded the bases for pinch hitter Jason Vargas, who is also a relief pitcher, and he cleared them with a towering grand slam home run over the scoreboard in right-center field.
Vargas’ roommate Clay Harris (1-0, 3.38 ERA), who relieved an ill Lane Mestepey, pitched 5 1/3 innings for the win, allowing one run and three hits.
Ironically, the situation was reversed in Sunday’s game.
The Tigers held a 12-1 lead in the seventh, before loading the bases again with Harris coming to bat this time. He promptly blasted the first pitch into the left-field bleachers for LSU’s second pinch-hit grand slam of the series by a relief pitcher. Vargas pitched an inning and one-third in relief in Sunday’s game.
“I was looking for a fastball early in the count and try and get my best swing off,” Harris said. “I didn’t even know the bases were loaded when I hit it. It was exciting.”
The pitching duo of Vargas and Harris now have produced more runs at the plate than they have given up on the mound.
Other Tigers also broke out of their offensive woes, including LSU first baseman Blake Gill and outfielder Matt Heath.
Gill, who was hitless in his first 16 at-bats, finally broke out of his slump Sunday afternoon with a 4-for-4 performance.
“It feels good to finally get out of it,” said a smiling Gill. “That’s one of the worst droughts I’ve been in probably in my whole life. I was taking it hard on myself. But coach showed some confidence in me and let me keep playing.”
Heath, who had no RBIs through the first six games, had six RBIs in the series finale, tied for second on the team.
Right fielder Sean Barker continued to drive in runs for LSU, with a pair of RBIs in all three games, giving him a team leading 15.
Third baseman Wally Pontiff blasted his first home run of the season in the fourth inning of Friday’s game and had two RBIs, leading the charge offensively in the series opener.
Right-hander Bo Pettit (1-0, 2.63 ERA) was dominating Friday night, pitching 7 2/3 innings with 12 strikeouts while allowing only eight hits and no earned runs. The junior fireballer was excited about the win, but said he wasn’t completely satisfied with the outing.
“Overall, I’m not really happy with the way I performed,” Pettit said. “In the second and third innings I was falling behind and not throwing strikes.”
Laval was not disappointed with Pettit’s outing, but agreed that he is even better than he showed Friday night.
“You know what, he’s better than that,” Laval said. “Don’t get me wrong. When you can strike out 12 and the coach can say ‘he can do better,’ that tells you how talented he is.”
Jake Tompkins (2-0, 4.05 ERA) pitched brilliantly Sunday, allowing one run during six and two-thirds innings to notch his second win.
The Tigers return to the field tonight when they take on Centenary at Fairgrounds Field in Shreveport. Laval, who is anxious to see how the Tigers will play on the road will send junior right-hander Chad Vaught (0-0, 1.50 ERA) to the mound.
“Remember at LSU, playing here is a lot tougher because of the expectations,” Laval said. “But on the road, yeah it’s going to be fun, different ball park see how we react. We’ll even have different uniforms, our gray uniforms, so everything will be new. The freshmen have to learn how to play on the road.”
Graham Thomas