HOUSTON — Centerfielder Jake Stewart’s two RBI single in the fifth and brilliant pitching that held LSU to its lowest hit output of the season became too much for the second-ranked Tigers to overcome as Houston handed LSU its first loss of the season, 2-1, in front of 2,456 fans at Cougar Field on Friday night.
LSU (7-1) was off to the program’s best start in eight years. The Cougars (3-7) ended a three-game losing skid in their sixth game against a ranked opponent this season.
The series continues on Saturday at 3 p.m. and concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday. Sophomore left-hander Clay Dirks (2-0, 3.27) will take to the mound against Houston righty Brad Lincoln (0-1, 5.84) in Game 2.
Senior left-hander Lane Mestepey (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season despite a night where he became the school’s all-time leader in innings pitched. Mestepey worked six innings, moving his career total to 401.1 to surpass Scott Schultz’ (1992-95) old mark of 398. The Zachary, La. native also moved into the Southeastern Conference’s top-five career total.
But the night belonged to two Cougar pitchers who handcuffed the hot-hitting Tiger bats to just six hits — three of them from second baseman Clay Harris.
Junior southpaw Matt Farrington (2-0) was brilliant over a six-inning stretch, limiting LSU to one run on four hits, striking out five and walking three. Equally effective was reliever Justin Vaclavik who also held the Tigers at bay, surrendering just two hits and striking out five over the final three innings.
“Great pitching beats good hitting,” said LSU head coach Smoke Laval. “It was a matter of breaks. We had 10 strikeouts (at the plate) and some of our hitters took the night off. Mestepey pitched well enough to win and so did (Jason) Determann, but they didn