The baseball team kept its momentum rolling, beating over the University of Arkansas-Little Rock in a three-game home sweep this weekend.
The victories gave LSU a 6-0 record on the season and dropped UALR to 5-5. The Trojans were a last-minute opponent on the Tiger’s schedule after the University of Central Florida could not make the trip.
“No matter if it’s Arkansas – Little Rock or Miami or Texas, you have to come out and play your best game,” said junior catcher Matt Liuzza. “You can’t worry about your opponent or who’s pitching, you have to come out with you’re A-game every time.”
The Tigers stuck to its same weekend rotation with senior Lane Mestepey starting Friday night. Mestepey allowed just one run on four hits in 6.2 innings of work with five strikeouts.
Mestepey overcame the pitching duel against Trojan ace Bennett Cromer, getting the win with the help of the Tiger offense.
LSU got its bats swinging early in the first inning Friday to give the Tigers an early lead 3-0 going into the second. The Trojans did not produce a threat until the sixth when a few hits gave UALR its first run of the game.
Junior right-hander Edgar Ramirez relieved Mestepey in the seventh. Ramirez stayed solid through the ninth only giving up one run to shorten the Tigers’ lead to 4-2.
In the ninth with runners on and the go-ahead run at the plate, LSU called on closer Jordan Faircloth to seal the win giving the senior right-hander his second save on the season.
“It doesn’t make any difference who we play,” said head coach Smoke Laval. “We still got to go out and get some good swings off. A win is a win. You got to get better no matter who you play whether it be inner squad or Arkansas-Little Rock.”
Game two on Saturday found the Tigers giving up the most runs this season, but still found a way to pull out an 11-8 win.
Following the weekend rotation, Clay Dirks took the mound and found trouble early off, giving up two homeruns in the first inning. Despite the rough spots, Dirks pulled out 5 innings of work giving up 3 runs on 6 hits and striking out 4.
“I had my B-game. It took a while for me to find my pitches,” Dirks said. “When you don’t have you’re A-game you have to go out there and battle and give your squad a chance. The guys made a lot of plays behind me, and they gave me the support I needed. I think we are really starting to find ourselves and find our roles on the team.”
Also backing up Dirks were relievers Chase Dardar and Justin Meier.
Junior right-hander Dardar gave up four runs in just one inning. The early pickle Dardar found himself him resulted in junior right-hander Meier called to the mound to halt the Trojans pace. Which he did before getting into a slight jam in the ninth.
Junior left-hander Jason Determann was called on to get the Tigers out of the jam, and struck out the last batter, sealing the 11-8 victory.
“Our committed swings were better than they’ve been. Dirks goes 5 innings and he keeps us in there with nothing,” Laval said. “You try to turn every game into a positive. [J.P.] Padron looks like he felt a little more comfortable. You can see [Bruce] Sprowl feeling it a little — [Ryan] Patterson was because he’s been here. It doesn’t bother him. You can see Sprowl and [Nick] Stavinoha trying to come out of his slow starter so to speak. Offensively this was our best swings, and we’re playing pretty good defense.”
Sunday’s finale was LSU’s biggest scoring deficit all weekend when the Tigers concluded their three-game sweep 15-9.
LSU wasted no time getting on the board scoring six runs on six hits in both the first and second innings, including a shot over the fence for Stavinoha — who finished the day with five RBIs.
The early lead gave starter Greg Smith reassurance on the mound. The junior left-hander lasted five innings and gave up four runs before being relieved by junior right-hander Chris Cahill.
Cahill gave up five runs in just 2.2 innings of work leaving Laval to call on true freshman Eric English to close out the game and the series.
LSU is spending the beginning of the season working on more than just wins. With less challenging opponents compared to Southeastern Conference teams, the Tigers hope to improve other areas of its game as well.
“You’re going to face better talent in the SEC for sure, but right now we are finding ourselves and work best for us,” Dirks said. “Some schools play tough out of conference schedules, but we’re facing good teams and seeing good talent.”
The Tigers will look to add to their undefeated record next weekend when they travel to the University of Houston for their first away series this season.