BATON ROUGE — LSU jumped on Virginia early and often on Sunday, scoring 10 runs in the first four innings and cruised to a 13-4 win at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (3-0) play host to Southeastern Louisiana Tuesday night at 7 p.m. before playing host to Arizona State in a three-game series next weekend.
The Tigers outscored the Cavaliers 34-6 in the three-game set and pounded out 32 hits, including 16 in the finale.
In the first, David Raymer and Ryan Theriot drew back-to-back walks to eald off the frame, then Mike Fontenot lofted a drive that bounced off the fence just to the right of center field. Raymer scored, but in the confusion that ensued, Fontenot nearly passed Theriot between first and second, thus limiting Fontenot to a long single.
A long fly ball by Brad Cresse moved Theriot and Fontenot up on base, with Fontenot scoring on Blair Barbier’s ground out.
The Tigers used four consecutive hits and five overall in the second to get four runs. Jeff Lipari led off the frame with a double, and with one out, came home on Raymer’s double. Theriot followed with an RBI single.
The Cavs got a tun in the third on Ryan Kalamaya’s RBI single, but LSU immediately got two back in the bottom half of the inning on Lipari’s sacrifice fly and an RBI double by Fontenot. Blair Barbier hit a solo homerun in the fourth to give the Tigers a 9-1 lead.
The Tigers started the seventh inning with a scare, as Raymer was shaken up when he collided with the center-field fence while chasing down Ben Himes’ long fly ball that turned into a triple. Luis Giraldo also hit a two-run homerun in the three-run inning for the Cavs.
Cedrick Harris led off the bottom of the seventh with a pinch-hit homerun, then made a spectacular defensive play in the eighth with a diving catch to rob Himes of a hit. Harris was momentarily shaken up but remained in the game, then singled home two more runs in the eighth.
LSU sophomore righthander Billy Brian picked up his first LSU victory by pitching five solid innings, allowing four hits and one run.