BATON ROUGE — Four Tiger pitchers combined to allow only five singles in a 4-1 victory over Houston in game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader at Alex Box Stadium.
Justin Hill pitched two innings of scoreless and hitless relief to pick up the win, while Weylin Guidry earned the save after two scoreless and hitless innings. It was the Tigers’ first errorless game of the 2001 season.
LSU third baseman Wally Pontiff went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI and a run scored, while shortstop Ryan Theriot was a perfect 2-of-2 with two walks, an RBI and a run scored. Johnnie Thibodeaux added an RBI single to pace the Tigers.
Houston’s lone run came on a bases-loaded walk by LSU starter Shane Youman.
LSU improved to 4-2 overall while Houston fell to 3-6.
Youman pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and one run while striking out five and walking three. Houston’s lone run off the lefty came in the top of the fourth when Youman walked shortstop Hyung Cho with the bases loaded.
Hill (1-0,? 3.38 ERA) came in relief of Youman with two outs in the fifth, and forced Gabe Lucas to ground out with two on to end the inning.
After managing only three hits over the first five innings against Houston starter and losing pitcher Gene Flores (1-1, 4.86 ERA), the Tiger bats came alive in bottom of the sixth. Ryan Theriot led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on a double by Mike Fontenot. Wally Pontiff’s two-RBI double gave LSU a 2-1 lead.
Pontiff advanced to second on a wild pitch before Flores forced Todd Linden to fly out. Flores was then relieved by Keith Whatley. After getting Bryan Moore to foul out, Whatley gave up an RBI single to pinch hitter Johnnie Thibodeaux before getting out of the inning by striking out catcher Matt Heath.
Hill pitched two solid innings for the Tigers before being relieved by Brad David with two outs in the top of the seventh. David gave up a wild pitch and a walk before fanning Josh Snook to end the threat.
LSU picked up an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh when pinch hitter Aaron Hill singled to left and was pinch run for by Billy McBride after hitting a pitch off his foot. McBride stole second and scored on a single by Theriot to go up, 4-1.
David failed to get an out in the top of the eighth and was relieved by Weylin Guidry with runners on first and second. Guidry struck out the first batter he faced, however, a wild pitch advanced Lucas to third. Cho then grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.