NEW ORLEANS — College baseball returned to the Lousiana Superdome Tuesday as No. 23 Tulane outpaced fifth-ranked LSU, 9-5, in front of 16,243 fans, the largest crowd of any college game this season.
The matchup between these rivals last season drew the largest crowd in college baseball history — 27,673 — and Tuesday night’s game was the tenth consecutive meeting between LSU and Tulane to draw at least 10,000 fans.
“It was a great game for two teams like LSU and Tulane to get together like this,” said LSU shortstop Aaron Hill. “There’s not a bigger rivalry in the country, and when you get on national television, it makes for a fun game.”
Holding a 9-5 lead heading into the eighth inning, Green Wave closer Joey Charron retired the six consecutive LSU batters he faced and struck out all three Tigers in the top of the ninth to pick up his ninth save of the season.
Charron has not given up a run against the Tigers through seven and 1/3 innings this season and has a career ERA of 0.85 against the Tigers.
With the win, Tulane (33-13) claims the victory in the three-game season series against LSU (30-14-1), winning two of the three.
The Green Wave took the first game in the series 5-4 in an 11 inning thriller at Zephyr Field in Metairie. LSU tied the series with an 8-0 shutout of Tulane on April 15 in Baton Rouge.
“It’s certainly a big win for us,” said Tulane’s All-American first baseman Michael Aubrey. “We were expecting a big crowd. We wanted to get this win to help propel us in the postseason.”
Tulane got on the board early with a three-run second inning behind the hitting of Jonny Kaplan, the hero in the first meeting between these two teams.
Kaplan stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs and worked starter Jake Tompkins to a full count before smashing a fastball to the left field fence for a three-run double.
Kaplan finished the game 3-for-5 with two runs scored, a double and three RBIs.
On March 11, Kaplan hit the game-winning single in the bottom of the eleventh inning in the first game between the arch rivals.
Tompkins took the loss for the Tigers and dropped to 1-5 on the season.
“They’ve got a stacked lineup,” Tompkins said. “They’re a very talented team with talented players. Leading off with Kaplan doesn’t make it real easy. Even if you get him out, you’ve still got to deal with Aubrey, one of, if not the best hitter I’ve pitched against.”
Through 3 2/3 innings, Tompkins gave up six runs on eight hits, including two doubles.
“Tonight [Tompkins] just didn’t have his best stuff,” said Tulane coach Rick Jones. “Our kids really put some good swings on pitches and had good, quality at bats.”
The Green Wave tallied one more run in the third and two more in the fourth to extend its lead to 6-1 heading into the fifth inning. LSU outfielders Ryan Patterson and Jon Zeringue launched back-to-back home runs and a three-run fifth inning rally for the Tigers, cutting Tulane’s lead to three.
It was the tenth home run this season for Patterson, after he was named Southeastern Conference player of the week last week.
The Green Wave answered with two outs in the fifth with a three-run inning of their own. In fact, all nine of Tulane’s runs came with two outs.
With two outs, LSU third baseman Ivan Naccarata could not handle a hard-hit grounder from Kaplan, allowing him to reach first with a runner on third.
On the next pitch, Tim Guidry scored from third on a wild pitch and Greg Smith walked Tony Giarrantano to bring up Aubrey.
Zeringue muffed the lazy fly ball Aubrey hit to right field, allowing Kaplan and Giarrantano to score, extending the Green Wave lead to 9-4.
LSU only could muster one more run in the game, in the sixth inning, when Aaron Hill scored on a Clay Harris sacrifice fly.
LSU returns to action today at 6:30 p.m., when it hosts its other New Orleans rival UNO.
UNO beat the Tigers 5-4 in a dramatic, bottom of the ninth inning rally at Zephyr Field on March 25.
Left-handed freshman Jason Determann (3-0, 2.54 ERA) will get the start on the mound for the Tigers.