Nothing is hotter in the LSU batting order right now than outfielder Ryan Patterson’s bat.
The sophomore outfielder from Rowlett, Texas, hit a blistering 9-for-14 in the three game sweep of Tennessee with two home runs, seven RBIs and six scored runs. Patterson raised his batting average to .358 on the season, leading the Tigers to 42 runs and 47 hits against the Volunteers.
“I saw the ball real well,” Patterson said. “Everything seemed in slow motion. It feels real good. There’s kind of no way to really explain it. You work every day in the cages, and you just wait for weekends like this. You’ve just got to enjoy it while it lasts.”
Patterson turned in a 2-for-5 performance Friday night in the Tigers’ 17-4 series-opening win before hitting 7-for-9 over the last two games, which LSU won 10-6 and 15-4.
“Patterson is red hot,” said outfielder Jon Zeringue. “He’s on fire. He’s the toughest out in the nation right now. I don’t know what anyone can do to stop him. I just hope he keeps it up.”
Patterson was not the only one hitting the ball well. The hot-hitting spread to the whole team. Outfielder Bruce Sprowl went 6-for-14 and hit his first career home run Friday. Zeringue turned in a 5-for-12 performance.
“We’re playing about as good as we can,” said LSU coach Smoke Laval. “There’s no doubt Tennessee’s a much better club than that. We caught them at their down time, and they caught us at our peak time.”
The 19 hits LSU roped Sunday tied a season high. The Tigers notched 19 hits against Centenary earlier in the year. Every Tiger starter got a base hit Sunday, and the game marked the fourth straight game LSU scored double-digit runs.
“We were embarrassed from last weekend I guess,” Zeringue said. “We knew we had to come home and give the fans something to cheer about. In the first game, it seemed like the first few guys got hits, and we just started rolling from there.”
When asked if hitting is contagious, Patterson did not hesitate to agree.
“When the guy before you gets a hit, you know you can get a hit,” Patterson said. “It kind of gives you a little confidence when the guy before you is hitting the ball hard.”
Hitting coach Turtle Thomas said LSU is using a balanced offense, which features six players with 27 or more RBIs.
“We’re not just relying on one or two guys knocking runs in,” Thomas said. “The lead-off guys are getting on base. A lot of guys are knocking runs in. We’ve got guys in the bottom of the batting order hitting some home runs. It seems like everybody is contributing throughout the lineup, which is the secret for scoring a lot of runs.