BATON ROUGE — LSU completed a three-game sweep of Houston by pounding out 16 hits in a 14-6 victory on Sunday afternoon in Alex Box Stadium.
LSU avenged a home sweep by Houston in 2000 to take the series and improve to 5-2 on the season.
Pre-season All-American Todd Linden broke out of a 3-for-21 start of the season with a 3-for-4 performance and three RBI. Ryan Theriot was 3-of-6 with two runs scored and Mike Fontenot was 2-of-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. Fontenot and Matt Heath each hit three-run home runs to lead the Tigers. Also, Zeph Zinsman, Sean Barker and Chris Phillips each added two hits for LSU.
Roy Corcoran (1-0, 1.93 ERA), who entered in the fourth inning in relief of starter Lane Mestepey, received the win after pitching 3 1/3 innings and giving up one run on four hits while striking out one and walking one.
Houston (3-7) scored first on a sacrifice fly by rightfielder Sam Mitchell in the top of the second, after Mestepey put runners on first and third with one out for the second consecutive inning.
LSU tied the game in the bottom of the frame when No. 9 hitter Phillips hit a clutch two-out single past the outstretched glove of shortstop Cooper Vittitow and into center field. Aaron Hill, who walked to open the inning, scored on the play.
After an error by Vittitow extended the inning and put Hill on second and Ryan Theriot on first, Fontenot hit his first home run of the season into the left field bleechers to give LSU a 4-1 lead.
The Tigers extended the lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the third on an RBI double by Zinsman which scored Linden. A sacrifice bunt by Hill moved Zinsman to third. After Johnnie Thibodeaux was hit by a pitch, Ray Wright hit a long sacrifice fly to center to score Zinsman. Phillips blasted a double into the left-field gap scoring Thibodeaux from first to give LSU a 7-1 lead and pitching change.
Houston starter and losing pitcher Brad Sullivan (0-1, 6.23 ERA) was relieved by Nick Torina, who got Fontenot to ground out to first baseman Nathan Mitchell for the final out.
Houston responded in the top of the fourth with three runs off Mestepey. The Cougars opened the inning with back-to-back singles by Nathan Mitchell and Sean Allen before Sam Mitchell reached on a throwing error by Victor Brumfield to load the bases. A groundout to first scored Mitchell and moved runners to second and third with two outs.? Michael Bourn singled to center to load the bases once again, and Josh Snook hit a sacrifice fly to score Allen.
An RBI single by Gabe Lucas scored Mitchell and sent LSU head coach Skip Bertman to the mound for a pitching change. Corcoran entered and got the final out of the inning.
LSU matched Houston’s trio of runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 10-4 lead. Pinch hitter Barker hit his second double in four at bats as a Tiger to lead off. With one out, Theriot singled to left to put runners on the corners. After another pop out, Matt Hooper entered to pitch for Houston. Hooper hit Brumfield with a pitch to load the bases before Linden singled to center to score Barker and Theriot. Zinsman hit an RBI single to score Brumfield from second, but Linden was caught in a run-down to end the inning.
Houston catcher Chris Snyder launched a one-out homer to left off of Corcoran, cutting the lead to 10-5 in the top of the seventh.
The Tigers added another run in the bottom of the seventh off Houston relievers Steven Reiss and Jared Grein, as Linden hit an RBI single to center which scored Fontenot.
Justin Hill entered in relief of Corcoran to start the eighth and gave up a walk, a stolen base and then an RBI single.
LSU added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth on a homer by Heath, scoring Barker and pinch hitter Bryan Moore.
LSU returns to action on Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium when the Tigers play host to McNeese State at 7 p.m.