BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers captured the first game of a best-of-three series against the UCLA Bruins in the Super Regional Tournament Friday night, 8-2, at Alex Box Stadium. The Tigers were powered by the pitching of starter Brian Tallet and the hitting of senior catcher Brad Cresse.
LSU (47-17) struck first courtesy of a sacrifice fly by Cresse scoring Ryan Theriot, who led off the LSU first inning with a double to left field, giving LSU a 1-0 lead. The Tigers would score again in the third when a wild pitch by UCLA (38-25) starting pitch Rob Henkel scored LSU designated hitter Wally Pontiff. The second UCLA error of the inning allowed another Tiger to cross the plate giving LSU a 3-0 lead after three.
In five complete innings of work, Henkel gave up six runs and four hits while striking out five. However, only four of those runs were charged to the UCLA starter. The loss dropped Henkel to 6-4 for the year.
“I felt like I pitched with a lot of heart and determination out there,” Henkel said. “I wish I could have gone a little bit longer. There were a couple of breaks that didn’t go our way as a team. But, it’s one game. You have to tip your hat to LSU, and we’re just going to come out tomorrow with a lot of intensity and ready to play.”
The Tigers would add three more runs in the fifth inning. Senior Jeremy Witten led off with a walk and stole two bases to advance to third. An RBI single by LSU center fielder Cedric Harris plated the first run of the fifth, and then Cresse blasted his 30th home run of the year over the center field wall to give LSU a 6-0 advantage. Cresse finished the night 1-3 with three RBI and scored a run.
“He fell behind three and one with all curve balls,” Cresse said of his home run. “He threw me a change-up. He didn’t really throw too many fastballs tonight. I was able to stay back and hit it. In that situation, I didn’t think I’d get a good pitch to hit. I knew I’d get a change-up or a curve ball with a one out and first base open.”
Meanwhile, sophomore Brian Tallet worked 6 1/3 innings before giving up a two-run home run to UCLA catcher Forrest Johnson. Johnson’s 23rd round tripper of the season ended any chance of a no-hitter or a shut-out. Tallet was relieved by sophomore Weylin Guidry. The two combined for the third two hit game in 2000. The first two hitter came courtesy of a complete game effort by Tallet on March 17 against Vanderbilt. The second was a combined pitching effort against the University of New Orleans on March 22.
LSU added two runs in the seventh inning ending the scoring and giving the Tigers an 8-2 lead. Tallet worked 7 1/3 innings giving up only two runs and two hits while striking out seven. The win improves the lefty to 14-4 this season.
“Brain Tallet really was good out there,” LSU head coach Skip Bertman said. “He used a great deal of energy on every pitch. I mean he really left everything out there. We had some good pitching and clutch singles today and that’s what helped us win this game today.”
Both teams will face-off again Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. A UCLA win in tomorrow’s game would force a third meeting on Sunday at 1 p.m.