BATON ROUGE — Freshman right-hander Brian Wilson tossed three perfect relief innings Saturday and left fielder Todd Linden collected two hits and an RBI to lead LSU to a 3-2 victory over a team of former Tigers in the annual Alumni Game at Alex Box Stadium.
Wilson, a true freshman from Londonderry, N.H., earned the victory, as he worked the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, recording four strikeouts.
A total of six LSU pitchers combined to limit the alumni team, composed of former Tigers still active in pro baseball, to just seven hits. Left-hander Tim Nugent, LSU’s starter, pitched the first three innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits with four walks and one strikeout.
Right-hander Justin Hill picked up the save, as he struck out Harry Berrios to end the game with the tying run at third base.
The alumni team scored in the second inning when Brad Hawpe, who led off the inning with a walk, scored from third base on a Nugent error.
LSU responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning, as consecutive singles by Linden, catcher Matt Heath and first baseman Zeph Zinsman plated one run before Heath scored on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Johnnie Thibodeaux.
LSU maintained the 2-1 lead into the eighth inning, when the Tigers added an insurance run as second baseman Victor Brumfield scored on Linden’s single.
The alumni rallied in the top of the ninth when Russ Johnson singled and scored on Todd Walker’s one-out double. Reliever Weylin Guidry struck out Lyle Mouton, but Eddy Furniss reached base when reliever Brad David fired a wild pitch on strike three.
Head coach Skip Bertman went to his bullpen again, and Hill fanned Berrios to secure the LSU victory.
Alumni starter Randy Keisler was charged with the loss, as he worked two innings, allowing two runs on three hits with no walks and one strikeout.
The Tigers open the regular season at 7 p.m. Friday versus Kansas State in Alex Box Stadium.