METAIRIE — In dramatic fashion, New Orleans right fielder Drew Pizza roped a Jake Tompkins’ curve ball down the first base line in the bottom of the ninth inning to score pinch runner Josh Jones, leading the Privateers to a 5-4 win against LSU Tuesday night at Zephyr Field in Metairie.
“I was just the lucky guy on our team to be up in that spot,” Pizza said. “Anybody on our team would have done the same.”
With the win, UNO improves to 15-12 on the season (0-3 in the Sun Belt Conference), while LSU drops to 16-8-1 (5-0-1 Southeastern Conference).
It marked the second time in a row the Tigers lost a game at Zephyr Field in the bottom of the last inning while holding two outs.
Two weeks prior, Tulane rallied in the bottom of the 11th inning to beat LSU 5-4.
The UNO rally got started in the bottom of the ninth when Ryan Sanchez hit a two-out single into left field. He was replaced by Jones at first, who moved over to second on a passed ball before Pizza’s heroics.
“It was a great win for our guys,” said UNO head coach Randy Bush. “Sanchez and Pizza are roommates. They are pre-med students, and they are seniors. It’s almost like a story book ending.”
Tompkins fell to 0-3 on the year after giving up the game-winning hit.
“I threw him a curve ball as well as I could to the inside, and he just happened to hit it,” Tompkins said. “They played their hearts out tonight, and so did we. It’s sad that we had to lose like this.”
Former Tigers pitcher J. P. Martinez picked up the win for the Privateers, improving his record to 4-0. Martinez entered the game in the fourth inning and retired nine of the first 10 LSU batters he faced.
Ivan Naccarata attempted to start an LSU rally off Martinez in the top of the ninth with a two-out single.
Naccarata made his way to third on a stolen base and a wild pitch with Blake Gill at the plate. Martinez intentionally walked Gill, bringing Clay Harris to the plate with two outs and runners on the corners.
The call worked for the Privateers as Martinez struck out Harris on five pitches to keep the score tied heading into the bottom of the ninth.
“It was the right call,” Martinez said. “Gill smoked me earlier in the game, so we had to go with the odds. We also wanted to get a potential out at second if it was necessary.”