Leading 6-0 to start the bottom of the fifth, the LSU baseball team didn’t need any more run support to put away visiting Princeton.
But senior outfielder Jared Foster and junior shortstop Alex Bregman had other plans during another offensive explosion for LSU.
Foster and Bregman each blasted a home run in a five-run fifth inning, and the No. 2 Tigers crushed Princeton, 15-4, to take the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader and wrap up its third consecutive weekend-series sweep of the season.
The win was the seventh straight for LSU (10-1), which has scored at least seven runs in six of its last seven games. LSU has outscored its opponents 65-25 since dropping a 6-3 decision to Nicholls State on Feb. 18.
“We needed to go out there and put a complete game together,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “I’m just really proud of the guys. I thought that was a really complete effort — pitching, defense and swinging the bat. It was a good way to end the three-game series.”
After defeating Princeton, 3-2, in Game 1 on Friday and 7-2 in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, LSU ensured the series finale was more one-sided.
LSU cranked out 20 hits in 47 at-bats (.425) Saturday night, with six different batters recording multi-hit games. Outfielder Mark Laird and designated hitter Chris Chinea each batted 3-for-5 to lead LSU, while Foster and Bregman also added a pair of hits each.
LSU freshman pitcher Alex Lange (3-0) shutout Princeton (0-3) for six innings before Mainieri pulled the right-hander to start the seventh. The budding star retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced and 22 of 27 overall.
Lange also struck out six Ivy-Leaguers, giving him 23 Ks in his first 16 innings at LSU and prompting some heavy praise from Mainieri.
“Alex ix exciting to watch, just seeing him and the stuff he has,” Mainieri said. “He’s really the whole package.”
Despite Mainieri’s comments, Lange credited his teammates’ bats for helping him secure his third victory in as many starts.
“When the offense is clicking on all cylinders like they were, it makes my job a lot easier,” Lange said. “It makes the zone bigger, and you can just go and attack it.”
Princeton avoided a shutout by scoring four runs in a five-hit eighth, but the Ivy-Leaguers mustered only three hits in its eight other innings at the plate.
But both teams couldn’t manufacture runs to start. LSU and Princeton went scoreless through 2 and ½ innings before the home team exploded in a five-run third.
Bregman started the rally by smacking a triple to right-center field to drive in Laird from first. Bregman then scored on the next at-bat after Princeton sophomore southpaw Keelan Smithers (0-1) threw a pitch in the dirt.
Two batters later, senior catcher Kade Scivicque crushed a double off the left field wall to score senior first baseman Conner Hale, who extended his hit streak to 11 games.
Scivicque then scored when Princeton outfielder Paul Tupper bobbled a shot off the bat of LSU sophomore outfielder Jake Fraley, who then scored the home team’s final run of the inning off an RBI single from third baseman Danny Zardon.
LSU added another run in the fourth inning before Foster and Bregman sent balls over the fence in the fifth.
Foster blasted the first home run — a three-run shot — into the left field bleachers with one out. After a Laird single on the next at-bat, Bregman crushed a homer of his own on a 3-2 slider even though he said he expected something different.
“I was looking for a fastball, and it was a little bit out in front,” Bregman said. “I was fortunate enough of it to get it out.”
After LSU totaled four hits in Friday’s game, Bregman said it was good to see the bats come to life on Saturday. He just hopes it’ll continue.
“Everybody in our lineup was more aggressive and more intense and focused, and we need to continue to do that for the rest of the season,” Bregman said.