METAIRIE, La. — The LSU Tigers and the Tulane Green Wave lived up to the hype Friday evening in the New Orleans Super Regional at Zephyr Field. The in-state rivals needed 13 innings before the defending national champion Tigers captured a 4-3 victory in a game that lasted 4 1/2 hours.
The Tigers were lead by the arm and the courage of freshman starter Lane Mestepey. The left-hander pitched 10 innings giving up 11 hits and three earned runs while striking out six. He pitched a total of 153 pitches, 95 for strikes, topping his previous best of 120 pitches against Alabama on April 27 earlier this season.
Tulane was aided by reliever Barth Melius who entered the game in the seventh and lasted seven innings while striking out eight.
Both pitching staffs were effective in silencing their opponent’s bats. Tulane came into the game hitting .338; LSU entered hitting .321 for the year. Together the teams combined for just two extra base hits.
Three of the four pitchers who saw action threw over 100 pitches. Tulane starter Michael Aubrey finished with 106 pitches and Melius finished with 107.
The Tigers struck first in the top of the first with a two-run homerun by second baseman Mike Fontenot following a single by Wally Pontiff to give LSU the first lead, 2-0. The homerun was Fontenot’s 14th and moved his RBI count to 50, good for third on the club.
LSU continued to threaten in the opening frame when a single and a pair of walks loaded the bases. Aubrey then settled down and forced a pop out by catcher Matt Heath and caught Johnnie Thibodeaux looking.
After throwing 35 pitches and leaving two Tigers in scoring position in the opening inning, Aubrey retired 15 of the Tigers’ next 18 batters heading into the seventh inning. The Tulane starter gave up just two runs on five hits in six innings.
Meanwhile, LSU starter Lane Mestepey cruised through the first five innings giving up just four hits allowing only two Green Wave base-runners past first base.
Tulane finally put a run on the board in the sixth. Jon Kaplan and Andy Cannizaro notched a pair of singles before Jake Gautreau laced a double off of the right field wall to cut the LSU lead, 2-1.
After a strikeout, Aubrey helped himself with a two-run single giving the Green Wave its first lead of the game, 3-2, before Mestepey was able to avoid further damage.
The Tigers did not take long to respond. A walk by David Raymer and a bunt-single by Ryan Theriot set up an RBI opportunity for Pontiff. The LSU third baseman moved his batting average with runners in scoring position to .430 and knotted the game, 3-3, with a single.
Pontiff and Theriot each finished the game 4-of-6 at the plate. For Pontiff it was the sophomore’s second four-hit game this season and the third of his career. Theriot added his third four-hit game and the 27th multiple hit game of the year.
Melius struck out three of the next four batters, and LSU left the bases loaded for the second time in the ballgame.
Green Wave third baseman Jake Gautreau gave the Tigers a scare in the 10th with a long fly ball to the warning track in right field. The Tigers countered with a pair of warning track-fly balls in the 11th, but neither team could put together another run.
It wasn’t until the 13th inning that the scoring drought ended. In the top half of the frame, Heath led off the inning with a single and stole second base giving LSU its first runner in scoring position since the seventh.
The bottom third of the Tiger line-up was a combined 0-for-13 before Heath lined the single.
Senior Ray Wright sacrificed Heath to third and centerfielder David Raymer lined a sacrifice fly to center to score the go ahead run for the Tigers.
LSU relied on another freshman out of the bullpen. Brian Wilson (3-2) pitched three shutout innings giving up just three hits while capturing the win.
A record crowd of 11,719 was on hand for Friday’s game. It is the largest outdoor crowd to witness a baseball game in Louisiana and the second largest crowd to watch a regional game, topping an Oklahoma and Auburn game on May 28, 1995.
Both teams will meet tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. in game 2 of the best-of-three series at Zephyr Field.