LSU senior Louis Coleman has been providing the backbone of the Tigers’ starting pitching staff lately.The senior leader pitched nine innings of two-hit, shutout ball last Saturday night against Arkansas, and he continued that hot streak Saturday night against Florida, leading LSU to a 4-0 victory in front of the largest crowd to ever witness a game in LSU history – 9,131 fans.With the victory, No. 3 LSU (38-13, 18-8) now has a 1 1/2 game lead over No. 9 Florida (34-17, 16-10).”When you look in… the dictionary for the definition of leader, there should be a picture of Louis Coleman right there next to it,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri.Coleman (10-2) went eight innings, giving up no earned runs on four hits while striking out seven and walking one.Coleman now has thrown 17 innings of shutout ball in his last two starts, giving up six hits.”Honestly, they may as well go ahead and engrave that SEC Pitcher of the Year award right now,” Mainieri said.LSU juniors Ryan Schimpf and Blake Dean provided the early scoring for the Tigers.Schimpf got the scoring underway early, taking a 2-2 pitch just over the left field wall for his 15th home run of the season to give LSU a 1-0 lead.Dean followed up the home run with a double deep into the left centerfield gap and later scored on a wild pitch, putting the Tigers up, 2-0.Schimpf led off the bottom of the third with a single and was later moved over to third on a single by Dean. Schimpf would eventually score on a groundout by freshman third baseman Tyler Hanover, giving LSU a 3-0 lead, while Dean was stranded on third at the end of the inning.But while the juniors provided the offensive high points, it was freshman centerfielder providing the dazzling plays defensively for the Tigers to go along with his offensive woes.Mahtook lined into a 6-4-3 triple play on an LSU hit and run in the second and a 6-4 double play in his next at bat in the fourth. Both line outs ended possible LSU scoring threats.Mahtook made up for the triple play in the top of the third by making a sprinting catch deep in the right centerfield gap with two runners on and two out that saved a would-be double to end the inningThe Lafayette native atoned for the double play in the top of the fifth with a diving play in the right centerfield gap.”Coach told me bad breaks happen in this game, so you have to keep your head up,” Mahtook said. “I felt like I needed to play that much harder on defense to make up for my double and triple plays.”The Tigers touched up Florida pitcher Anthony DeSclafani early for four hits and two runs in the first inning.DeSclafani (5-2) came into the game with a 3.58 ERA in 17 appearances and seven starts. He had pitched 50 1/3 innings, giving up 20 earned runs on 41 hits entering tonight’s game.DeSclafani finished the night giving up three earned runs on seven hits in 4 innings of work.The Tigers will go for the sweep tomorrow against the Gators in the third game of the weekend series.Sophomore right handed pitcher Austin Ross will get the start for the Tigers.
Baseball: Tigers frustrate Gators with 4-0 victory
May 8, 2009