The LSU baseball team withstood a fierce four-run Alabama rally in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday to win 11-10 and take two of three games from the Crimson Tide at Sewell-Thomas Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Alabama (20-7, 5-4 Southeastern Conference) won the first game of the series, 4-2, ending the Tigers’ six-game unbeaten streak in conference play.
LSU (18-9-1, 7-1-1 SEC) came out Saturday and downed the Crimson Tide 10-6 before winning the rubber match on Sunday.
The Tigers now have won seven straight SEC series dating back to last April.
Holding an 11-6 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth Sunday, LSU reliever Billy Sadler entered the game and retired the first batter before the Alabama rally started.
Sadler walked the next batter he faced before giving up back-to-back singles to load the bases.
An error, a passed ball, a walk and a hit batsman — all in succession — combined to allow the Crimson Tide to cut LSU’s five-run lead to one. But true freshman Justin Meier induced the last two outs of the ballgame to pick up his first save of the year.
LSU launched four home runs and 17 hits in Sunday’s win over Alabama.
First baseman Clay Harris led the Tigers’ charge with two homers on 3-for-5 hitting Sunday and now leads the Tigers with a .417 batting average.
Outfielder Jon Zeringue hit one home run in each of this weekend’s games. Zeringue extended his home run streak to four games with his blast Sunday and now has gone yard in five of the Tigers past six games. He leads the team with six homers.
Ryan Patterson (6-for-14 in the series) and Ivan Naccarata (5-for-13 with two home runs) also aided in the Tigers’ offensive outburst on Saturday and Sunday.
Nate Bumstead (3-1, 5.46 ERA) picked up his second SEC win in a row Sunday.
Bumstead allowed six runs on eight hits and struck out six Tide batters through seven innings pitched.
Senior Bo Pettit improved his record to 5-0 on the season after Saturday’s victory where he gave up four runs on seven hits through 5 2/3 innings. Tompkins came in after Pettit and struck out six batters through 3 2/3 innings to get the save.
Brian Wilson (5-3, 3.37 ERA) gave up a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning in Friday night’s contest that proved to be the difference in the game. It was Wilson’s first loss since losing to Long Beach State in early March.