Coach Paul Mainieri sat down in his chair, looked into the camera of the computer that hosted the postgame press conference Zoom call, and let out a sigh of relief.
“What a difference a day makes,” he said. His Tigers were coming off a historic loss at the hands of the team they just beat. Oral Roberts walked 10 times and added 18 hits in their 22-7 win on Friday. It was the second worst margin of defeat in Mainieri’s LSU tenure, and the first time a team scored 20 or more runs against LSU since 2001.
“Yesterday was one game,” said Gavin Dugas, who had three RBI in Saturday’s win. “When the clock hit midnight, we moved on to the next.”
There would be no eight run top of the first inning in Game Two of the weekend series. Starting pitcher Landon Marceaux struck out two in the opening frame and got some help from Dylan Crews, who gunned down a runner going from first to third on a single for his second outfield assist in the past week.
“When you have a guy with an arm like he does, what an asset it is,” Mainieri said. “You very rarely get a five tool player in college. It’s so rare. I can never remember in all my years of coaching having a right fielder with that caliber of an arm.”
LSU collected its first hit with two outs in the second inning on a Zach Arnold double, and its first run on a Jordan Thompson RBI single that scored Arnold.
Marceaux continued to roll through his outing. Through four innings, the starter kept Oral Roberts scoreless, added six strikeouts and allowed no walks.
The Tigers offense got going again in the fifth inning. After Alex Milazzo singled down the left field line and Crews and Tre’ Morgan both walked, Brody Drost, Beloso and Dugas hit three straight one-out, one RBI singles to extend LSU’s lead to 5-0.
“We got some really clutch singles with runners in scoring position which extended the lead and we were able to build on it from there,” Mainieri said.
With the bases loaded, Thompson hit an infield pop up that was dropped by Oral Roberts’ pitcher AJ Archambo. Thompson was called out on the infield fly, but Beloso managed to score from third. Drew Bianco, who led off the inning, hit a fly ball to shallow centerfield that found grass and two more LSU base runners scored to cap off the seven run fifth inning.
“That kind of broke the game open,” Mainieri said.
In the next inning, Dugas hit a two-out, two RBI double. Following an Oral Roberts pitching change, Arnold hit an RBI single for his second base hit of the day to increase LSU’s lead to 11-0.
Freshman Ty Floyd relieved Marceaux for the seventh inning. The starter’s day ended with seven strikeouts and zero walks through six scoreless innings. Marceaux increased his season strikeout total to 21, and has yet to allow a walk or an earned run in his three starts.
“Getting beat by double digit runs is never a good feeling,” Marceaux said. “I didn’t play and I felt horrible. It really fuels a fire for me the next day. Getting beat that bad contributed to the fire today.”
Mainieri retold a conversation he had with Marceaux Friday evening after Game One of the series. He was driving home, demoralized after the loss, and called his Saturday starter.
“I told him that I’ve always felt the middle game of a weekend series is the most important game,” Mainieri said. “I love you pitching this middle game of the series.”
“I’m ready,” Marceaux told his coach.
In two scoreless innings of relief, Floyd struck out four and allowed no hits. The LSU offense added another run in the 8th, an RBI single from Mitchell Sanford that brought in Maurice Hampton Jr., two late-game substitutions. Javen Coleman pitched a scoreless ninth, and LSU were 12-0 winners 24 hours after the program’s worst loss in 14 years.
“You can only imagine how many people gave up on the team yesterday. If we can come back and win again tomorrow, I think it shows huge character,” Mainieri said. “It’s like a boxing match and getting knocked down in the first round and coming back to win the fight. Tomorrow a lot is at stake.”
“It’s a crazy sport,” Mainieri said. “What the hell did I get into this sport all these years ago for?”
