METAIRIE, La. — Ryan Theriot’s throwing error allowed Tulane’s Andy Cannizaro to score the winning run as 16th-ranked Tulane took advantage of four LSU errors to down the second-ranked Tigers, 7-6 in front of a packed house Wednesday night at Zephyr Field.
The game drew a crowd of 11,669, the largest to ever watch any baseball game, college or professional, at the Triple-A ballpark.
The Tigers (25-10-1) are back in action at Alex Box Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m. when they take on Ole Miss (26-10-1) to begin a pivotal three-game Southeastern Conference series. LSU and Ole Miss are tied for first place in the overall SEC standings with 10-5 league marks. The Tigers won two of three in Oxford last year and are 29-6 against the Rebels since 1990.
Weylin Guidry walked leadoff batter Jon Kaplan to start the bottom of the ninth, and was relieved by Roy Corcoran. Cannizaro laid down a bunt down the first base line, and Corcoran threw the ball into right field, putting runners on the corners with no outs. Jake Gautreau’s double to left field scored Kaplan to tie the game, and Corcoran intentionally walked Steve Shirley to load the bases.
James Jurries then hit a grounder to Theriot, who was in on the grass at short, but the throw to Matt Heath was in the dirt.
LSU, which squandered a 5-2 lead in the eighth and saw the Green Wave tie the game at 5-5, started the inning with back-to-back walks to Ryan Theriot and Mike Fontenot. Wally Pontiff sacrificed the runners to second and third, and after Todd Linden was intentionally walked to load the bases, David Raymer’s slow roller scored Theriot.
With two outs in the eighth, it appeared that LSU ace Lane Mestepey was on his way to his seventh win on the season, but things came undone. First, Heath’s passed ball advanced Cannizaro to second, and Steve Shirley’s RBI double made it 5-3. Jurries then bounced a routine ground ball to Pontiff, but Pontiff’s throw was wide and went into the LSU dugout, allowing Shirley to score and placing Jurries on second.
Mestepey allowed just one earned run on five hits in 7 2/3 innings, but had to settle for no-decision thanks to his teammates’ blunders.
Brad David replaced Mestepey on the mound for LSU and promptly gave up a single to Michael Aubrey, the Tulane starting pitcher who had been removed but remained the game as the designated hitter. Aubrey’s hit scored Jurries to tie the game, and Weylin Guidry was summoned from the Tiger bullpen.
Guidry balked Aubrey to second, then allowed a single to Matt Groff and a walk to Anthony Giarrantano to load the bases, but he got out of the jam by getting pinch-hitter Jay Heintz to ground to first.
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the second with the help of an error, as Kaplan bobbled Bryan Moore’s double to deep right-center, allowing the LSU first baseman to reach third. Moore then came home on Matt Heath’s grounder to shortstop.
Tulane would also use an error to tie the game in the third. Giarrantano led off the inning and reached when Pontiff bobbled his ground ball. Matt Mann sacrificed Giarrantano to second, and the Wave second baseman came home on Kaplan’s RBI single.
One-out singles by Linden and Aaron Hill placed runners on the corners, and Linden would score the go-ahead run for LSU when Aubrey balked. Moore’s single would move Hill to third, and another ground ball by Heath plated Hill to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead.
The Tigers took a 4-1 lead in the sixth when Linden led off the sixth with a towering home run to deep left-center field, then Tulane came within 4-2 in the bottom of the frame on Shirley’s RBI single.