TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — LSU touched Alabama starter and Louisiana native Lance Cormier for three runs in the top of the seventh inning, more than enough for Tiger starter Lane Mestepey who threw a four-hit complete game to win 4-2 here in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Friday.
With the win in game 1 of the three-game weekend series at Sewell-Thomas Stadium, the Tigers improved to 33-13-1 on the season at remained tied with Ole Miss at 15-7 in the Southeastern Conference. Ole Miss destroyed Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., 17-6.
Alabama, which is mired in a six-game SEC losing streak, fell to 10-12 in league play and 26-20 overall.
Mestepey was the key to the Tigers’ win despite struggling a bit early. After getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the first and giving up a run in the second, Mestepey allowed only a hit batsman and one walk over the next seven innings while striking out six Tide batters.
Offensively, the Tigers struggled to solve Cormier, who started and threw 130 pitches in 6 1/3 innings.
Cormier struck out a career-high nine batters and held LSU scoreless until the seventh.
Trailing 1-0 in the seventh, LSU began to rally against the hard-throwing righthander as his pitch count had risen above 115.
Matt Heath walked to open the inning and advanced to second on a failed pickoff attempt by Cormier. Two batters later, Cormier walked Ray Wright to put runners at first and second with one out, and bring David Raymer to the plate.
Raymer collected his second hit of the night off Cormier to drive in the Tigers’ first run and tie the game at 1-1.
Theriot then blasted a 1-1 pitch in the right-center field gap to score Wright easily from second and allow Raymer to slide under the tag at home for a 3-1 lead.
Cormier was then lifted in favor of Landon Brazell, who walked Mike Fontenot on four pitches before getting Wally Pontiff to ground into a double play to end the inning.
The Tigers picked up another run in the ninth off Alabama reliever Shane Sanders.
Zeph Zinsman opened the inning with his seventh double of the season and was pinch run for my Billy McBride. A sacrifice bunt by Ray Wright send McBride to third with one out. McBride score one batter later when Raymer grounded out to the first baseman, giving LSU a 4-1 lead.
Mestepey, whose pitch count had risen to more than 100 to open the ninth, was put into a jam when Alabama catcher Jeremy Brown reached on an fielding error by Theriot at short. Two batters later, Mestepey allowed only his second walk of the game to put two on with one out.
A passed ball by Heath pushed the runners to second and third, and allowed a sacrifice fly by Beau Hearod to score Brown and cut the lead to 4-2.
With the tying run at the plate and two outs, Mestepey got Tide rightfielder Peter Stonard to ground out to Fontenot on an 0-2 pitch to end the game.
Mestepey improved to 8-1 on the season after pitching a complete-game four-hitter. He gave up only two runs (one earned) while striking out six and walking two. His ERA improved to 3.10.
Cormier received the loss and fell to 7-5 on the season. His SEC-leading ERA fell to 2.11 after allowing three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings. He game up eight hits and three walks while striking out a career-high nine batters.
LSU’s Bryan Moore continued to rip the cover off the ball, as the first baseman went 4-for-4 with four singles. Moore is 9-for-9 in his past to SEC games and 10 for his last 11 at bats. He raised his team-leading batting average to .394 after Friday’s performance.
Game 2 of the three-game series begins here on LSUsports.net at 4 p.m. Listen the Patrick Wright and Bill Franques beginning with the pregame show at 3:45 p.m. The game will be televised by College Sports Southeast on a tape-delay basis in the Baton Rouge area at 9 a.m. on cable channel 18.
Sunday’s series finale will be at 1 p.m., and will be televised live in Baton Rouge on both cable channels 10 and 18, according to Cox Cable in Baton Rouge.