BATON ROUGE — Catcher Brad Cresse went 5-for-6 including a home run, a double and a trio of singles to lead LSU past Tulane, 12-5, Wednesday night at Alex Box Stadium.
Cresse, a senior, drove in four Tigers and scored three runs to lead the Tigers to their second victory in as many nights. The five-hit performance tied a school record that has been duplicated 21 times now.
LSU improved to 8-5 on the season while Tulane fell to 5-7.
Starting pitcher Brian Tallet (3-1) pitched 6 1/3 innings for the Tigers, giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits while striking out three and walking three.
Bo Pettit came out of the LSU bullpen in the seventh and allowed two earned runs on a home run by Jake Gautreau. Ben Saxon pitched a scoreless ninth to end the game.
Tulane starter Nick Bourgeois (1-1) picked up the loss after only lasting three innings. He was hit for two runs (one earned) on five hits while striking out five and walking one.
The Green Wave used four pitchers (O’Gara, Berkowitz, Foster and Belanger) in the relief of Bourgeois, who combined to allow 10 runs (nine earned) on 10 hits while striking out five and walking five.
LSU put a run on the board in seven of the eight innings, including two in the fifth, sixth and seventh, and three in the eighth.
The Tigers return to action this weekend when they take on Central Florida in a three-game series beginning Friday at 6 p.m. CST in Orlando, Fla.
The Saturday evening game will also begin at 6 p.m. while the Sunday contest is scheduled for noon.