Zephyr Field was ��lled with memories of the late Wally Pontiff Jr. as the foundation bearing his name put on its second-annual classic in Metairie Wednesday night.
Wally Pontiff Sr. had much help for the successful event, but it was his kind words that put the game over the top.
Pontiff Sr. talked to LSU players before the game, including senior second baseman Clay Harris.
He told Harris that he was going to have a great game, and he would hit two home runs.
Harris proved to have a great game. As for the prediction of two home runs — Clay had to split that premonition with his brother and junior ��rst baseman, Will Harris.
The bash brothers were joined by senior right-��elder Nick Stavinoha to give the Tigers a total of three home runs and adding to the 8-2 victory over the No. 11 Rice Owls.
“We did some timely hitting and hitting throughout the lineup,” Stavinoha said in a news release. “We got clutch hits, two-out RBI and overall just better swings off. There weren’t a lot of balls that got by us with bad swings. That really helped us.”
If the victory and Pontiff magic were not enough, the Owls also were the last team Wally Pontiff Jr. faced before his tragic death in the summer of 2002.
During the tragic time for the Pontiff family, Rice coach Wayne Graham went to the Rice baseball facilities and removed the third-base bag — the last place Pontiff stood in an LSU uniform.
Despite his good heart and his 69th birthday, Graham and the Rice Owls could not compete with the motivation of the Tigers Wednesday night.
Little brother and red-shirt freshman Nick Pontiff sat in the dugout — for the ��rst time this season in uniform — and looked on as the starting nine dominated the Owls offensively and defensively.
“We took it to them every single inning,” said LSU coach Smoke Laval in a news release. “We didn’t lose focus and didn’t give up, pitched well, hit some doubles and some homers against some pretty good arms.”
Starter Justin Meier took the mound for the Tigers and lasted three innings, giving up only one unearned run.
Meier sat down each batter he faced in his ��rst two innings on the mound.
Stavinoha launched his seventh home run of the season in the bottom of the second to put the Tigers up 1-0.
The Owls answered back by taking advantage of a Clay Harris error. Sophomore shortstop Josh Rodriguez rounded the diamond with another error by shortstop Michael Hollander and a sacri��ce ��y by senior teammate Clay Reichenback.
The 1-1 threat was all LSU needed to push its offense over the top.
In the fourth inning senior left-��elder Ryan Patterson led off the inning with a walk. Senior Clay Harris sent a 1-2 pitch barely over the 400 foot sign to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead.
The Rice Owls went through ��ve pitchers, but the stacked Tiger lineup could not be stopped.
The LSU offense put up ��ve more runs to run away with the victory.
Although holding the Owls to one run, Meier was one inning short of gaining the win for the Tigers.
Instead, true freshman Eric English (1-0) picked up his ��rst collegiate career victory. English controlled the Owl bats for four innings, giving up only three hits and no runs.
The victory puts the Tigers at (23-8, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) on the year. LSU has now won two of its ��ve games this week.
The mid-week game was only the ��fth time this season for the No. 6 Tigers to play a ranked opponent.
LSU will return home this weekend to host SEC opponent and No. 4-ranked South Carolina in a three-game weekend series.
Rice (21-11, 4-5 Western Athletic Conference) will remain in Louisiana for its next three games when it travels to Ruston to take on WAC rival Louisiana Tech University.