LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri said sophomore right-hander Alex Lange never quite felt comfortable prior to a career-high earned run start against Auburn last week. And the first inning against No. 16 Vanderbilt Friday night didn’t appear to be much different than his struggles on the Plains.
During a 39-pitch first inning, Ro Coleman – the Commodore’s 5-foot-5 leadoff hitter – battled Lange for eight pitches, eventually ripping a solo home run just inside the right-field foul pole.
Lange then walked two of the next four hitters he faced, bringing up Vanderbilt designated hitter Alonzo Jones with two outs. On a full count, the fifth time Lange pitched with a full count in the inning, Jones popped out to the shortstop, as Lange escape a laborious first frame.
Then, Lange found the magic he possessed so much of last year, paving the way for junior right-hander Hunter Newman’s brilliance in 2.2 innings of relief, as the two combined to give up just five hits.
Lange struck out nine and gave up just three hits in 6.1 innings, and Newman punched out six of the 10 batters he faced during No. 15 LSU’s 3-2 series-clinching win at Alex Box Stadium. The victory was Mainieri 1,300th win all time and marked the first series victory against the Commodores in Mainieri’s tenure.
“You can’t do what [Lange] did if you don’t have something special about you,” Mainieri said. “This why I get so tired of criticism of Alex because his numbers aren’t what they were last year. What he did last week, what he did the week before against Texas A&M and what he did tonight was – the best compliment I can give him – Aaron Nola-ish.”
After wiggling out of the two-on, two-out jam, Lange went into cruise control, working three straight clean innings. After a 10-pitch second inning, Lange ended the third inning with back-to-back strikeouts and finished off the fourth with his fourth strikeout up to that point.
From the end of the first to the first two outs of the of fifth, Lange retired 12 Vanderbilt batters in a row.
“I felt real comfortable in the first inning,” Lange said. “I just kinda got away from myself, kinda got going too fast after the two walks. But I battled back, battled hard. It’s a long inning, obviously. So, we just got to start attacking barrels in the later innings. That’s what we were able to do.”
Meanwhile, the Tigers (21-9, 6-5 Southeastern Conference) were opportunistic with two outs in the second inning, started by off freshman third baseman Chris Reid’s single and advancement via an error by Commodore right fielder Jeren Kendall.
Then, sophomore catcher Michael Papierski drew a walk, setting up an RBI single from junior second baseman Cole Freeman and a two-run single by freshman right fielder Antoine Duplantis for a 3-1 lead.
Through the first four innings, all six hits of Tigers’ hits came with two outs, but the three hits that resulted in three runs proved to be the difference maker offensively.
“That was definitely a good thing because that was the only three runs we scored,” Duplantis said. “That was nice because, as you can see in the past, that was kinda the thing we’ve been really trying to focus on – two out hits and putting some crooked numbers on the board.”
However, Vanderbilt starting right-hander Kyle Wright settled in from there, stranding six base runners during the remainder of his seven-inning outing. In the fourth, Wright worked around Freeman’s two-outs single to strike out the side and ended the seventh with a punch out with the bases loaded.
Including the the bases-loaded strikeout in the seventh, LSU put the leadoff man on base and had a least a man in scoring position in each of its last three plate appearances. But the Tigers faltered all three times, highlighted by Reid and Freeman being picked off a third and first, respectively, to get Wright out of the sixth inning.
Aside from a sixth-inning solo home run off the bat of Commodore center fielder Bryan Reynolds, Lange kept the Vanderbilt offense at bay. He struck out the side following Reynold’s blast and started off the seventh with his ninth and final punch out.
Of his 118 pitches, Lange threw 71 strikes.
With Lange conceding a one-out walk to Commodore third baseman Will Toffey, Newman stepped in and delivered an eye-popping relief performance. Newman struck out the final two batters of the seventh and struck out the side in the eighth, maneuvering around a two-out double.
Though freshman right-handed closer Caleb Gilbert was warming up in the bullpen, Mainieri had no doubt about sending Newman out for the ninth. Newman allowed just a one-out infield single in the ninth, slamming the door shut with a game-ending strikeout.
“What can you say about the performance of Hunter Newman at the very end,” Mainieri said. “Just ice in his veins, made all the big pitches he needed to.”