BATON ROUGE — Brad Cresse and Ryan Jorgensen each slammed two home runs to lead sixth-ranked LSU past eighth-ranked in-state rival Louisiana-Lafayette Tuesday night in Alex Box Stadium, 8-2.
LSU starter Bo Pettit (3-2) earned the win by pitching five innings and giving up two runs on five hits while striking out five. Jason Scobie earned his first save of the season and finished the game for the Tigers, pitching four innings of one-hit ball and striking out five.
The Tigers improved to 27-10 on the season while ULL lost for only the fifth time in 2000, falling to 30-5.
A paid crowd of 8,622 was on hand to watch the game, the largest paid attendance in the history of Alex Box Stadium.
ULL starter Andy Gros received the loss, falling to 2-1 on the season.
The Tigers return to action this weekend for a three-game road series at Florida beginning Friday night at 6 p.m. CST. The series continues Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
ULL got on the board first in the top of the first inning, scoring two runs on three hard hits against Pettit. After the first two batters flew out to left center field, Nathan Nelson singled through the right side and scored on a double by Will Hawkins. The next batter up, Tommy Clark, hit another RBI single to left, scoring Hawkins and giving ULL a 2-0 lead.
The Tigers answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the frame, as Brad Cresse hit his 16th home run of the season over the bleachers and into the parking lot in left field and Blair Barbier hit a solo shot into the left field bleachers. Mike Fontenot scored on Cresse’ home run after reaching on a single past ULL starter Andy Gros.
In the bottom of the second, LSU catcher Ryan Jorgensen became the third Tiger hitter in six Tiger batter to slug a home run off of Gros. One batter later, Gros was lifted in favor of Eric Templet.
Cresse didn’t waste any time in the bottom of the third, hitting his second homer of the game in his second at bat. The line drive solo shot over the left field fence was Cresse’s 17th of the season and his 59th RBI.
LSU increased its lead to 6-2 in the third when Jeremy Witten knocked Cedrick Harris in on a hit-and-run through the left side.
For the fourth straight inning, LSU put at least one run on the board as Ray Wright reached on a two-base throwing error by Nelson, stole third and was driven home on Ryan Theriot’s double to left in the bottom of the fourth.
Jason Scobie came in relief of Pettit to begin the sixth inning. After the first two batters reach base on a pair of Brad Hawpe errors, Scobie got out of the first and third jam with a fly out and a double play to keep the score 7-1.
LSU added to its lead in the sixth inning when Jorgensen hit his second homer of the game, another solo shot to left field, giving LSU an 8-2 lead. This drove Templet from the game and brought Babin out of the Ragin’ Cajun bullpen.