NEW ORLEANS — LSU continued its assault on opposing pitchers Tuesday night in the Superdome against Tulane.
The No. 6 Tigers (32-11, 10-8 Southeastern Conference) pounded out 15 hits, their 13th-consecutive game with nine or more hits, in a 9-5 win over the No. 13 Tulane Green Wave (30-13, 13-5 C-USA).
Senior pitcher Lane Mestepey got the start and the win for the Tigers. Mestepey (5-1) allowed five runs on 11 hits in 7 1/3 innings of work.
“[Mestepey] did awesome,” said LSU third baseman Clay Harris. “When he’s on, the guys rally behind him. He’s just one of those inspirational guys that can get the team on his back and carry them, and that’s what he did tonight.”
Center fielder J.C. Holt provided the offensive spark for the Tigers in the fourth inning with a three-run home run. Holt went 1-for-4 on the night with two runs scored and three RBIs.
LSU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a two-out RBI-single by right fielder Jon Zeringue in the top of the first that scored Ryan Patterson from third.
The Green Wave wasted little time responding with a two-out RBI double of their own in the bottom of the frame. Catcher Greg Dini’s double down the right field line plated Joe Holland from second and tied the score at 1-1.
Already leading 2-1 in the fourth, the Tigers added five more runs to extend the lead to 7-1. Holt started the scoring with a three-run homer to left, his fifth of the season. Four batters later, catcher Matt Liuzza knocked in two more on a double down the left field line.
Holt said the home run provided momentum for the Tiger offense.
“The first two at bats [of the night], I popped up and never really got a good pitch to hit,” Holt said. “And with people on first and third I was like ‘alright here’s my chance to maybe put the game out of reach or get a good momentum shift going.’ [Matt Goebel] hung a curve ball to me and I put a good swing on it and the ball went out of the ball park.”
Mestepey ran into trouble in the fifth inning as designated hitter Scott Madden took a two-out pitch over the right field wall. Madden’s third home run of the season scored Tommy Manzella and pulled the Green Wave within four runs of the Tigers, at 7-3.
The Tigers’ offense got the two runs back for Mestepey in the sixth. The second run of the inning came off a RBI single from Zeringue, his second RBI of the night, and gave LSU a 9-3 lead.
Tulane’s Scott Holland led off the eighth with a solo home run to left field, pulling the Green Wave within four runs at 9-5.
The Green Wave continued to put the pressure on Mestepey in the inning with three-consecutive singles to load the bases. Mestepey was eventually pulled, giving way to Jordan Faircloth.
With the bases loaded, and only one out, relief pitcher Jordan Faircloth retired the next two batters to get LSU out of the inning without further damage.
“I thought we hit a lot of balls hard tonight at people, but that’s baseball,” said Tulane coach Rick Jones. “But I also thought that in the middle innings, Mestepey did a good job of getting us early in the count with off-speed stuff, and we weren’t quite as disciplined as we needed to be at that point.”
Faircloth would retire the Green Wave in the ninth to pick up his third save of the season.
Tulane starting pitcher Billy Mohl received the loss. Mohl went three innings and gave up two runs on seven hits.