“Escape” isn’t exactly the word the LSU baseball team wanted to use when referring to Tuesday night’s game against Harvard.But that’s what happened, as the Tigers (18-5) barely pulled out a 4-3 victory against the Crimson (2-12).”There weren’t a lot of positive things out there tonight,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “We didn’t put forth a very great effort out there, which I need to take responsibility for because I’m the coach. We were fortunate to win the game.”Mainieri inserted freshman third baseman Tyler Hanover for senior third baseman Derek Helenihi with the Tigers trailing, 3-2, with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the fifth inning on a hunch that the freshman would deliver.The hunch worked as Hanover came through with a two-RBI single to put the Tigers’ up 4-3 on their way to the victory in front of a season-low 3,537 fans.”Thank God I brought in Tyler Hanover off the bench,” Mainieri said. “He came in and played with spunk.”The Tigers had trouble manufacturing runs early in the game, as Harvard southpaw Will Keuper kept LSU’s offense at bay.Keuper (0-2) entered the game with a 15.19 ERA in 5.1 innings pitched but had a solid outing, going 4 1/3 innings and giving up four runs, three earned, in his first start of the season.”It had nothing to do with him,” said LSU junior outfielder Jared Mitchell. “We came out here and gave our poorest effort of the season as a team.”The Tigers got the first run of the game in the bottom of the first when Mitchell scored on an RBI single by junior catcher Sean Ochinko.Mitchell got his NCAA-leading 20th steal of the season earlier after leading off the bottom of the first with a double.”Coach is giving me the green light,” Mitchell said. “I feel a little more comfortable on the bases this year, and I have more maturity of knowing what I can and can’t do out there, and it’s helping me out.”The Crimson got their first run of the game in the top of the second when shortstop Sean O’Hara scored on a wild pitch by LSU senior Ryan Byrd.Byrd lasted only 4 1/3 innings, giving up three runs, one earned, on six hits while striking out six in his second start of the season.It was the relief effort from senior Nolan Cain, sophomore Jordan Nicholson, junior Paul Bertuccini and freshman Matty Ott that led the Tigers to the victory.The four players combined for 4 2/3 innings of relief work, giving up no earned runs while striking out five.”We won the game because we had super relief pitching,” Mainieri said.No. 4 LSU will finish its midweek series against the Crimson tonight.LSU freshman Chris Matulis will get the start on the mound for the Tigers.Matulis (3-0) has looked impressive so far in his freshman campaign with a 2.49 ERA in 21.2 innings while adding on 19 strikeouts.——Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]