BATON ROUGE — Aaron Hill’s two-run double with two out in the bottom of the 13th inning gave LSU its second final at-bat victory in as many days as the Fighting Tigers defeated Birmingham-Southern, 6-5, Saturday at Alex Box Stadium.
The game was the longest regular season game for the Tigers since March 22, 1996, when Florida defeated LSU, 7-6 in 16 innings. LSU defeated Tulane 4-3 in 13 innings in an NCAA Super Regional game last June at Zephyr Field in suburban New Orleans.
The Tigers (2-0, #5 Collegiate Baseball, #6 ESPN/USA Today Baseball Weekly, #7 Baseball America) goes for the sweep of the Panthers (0-2) Sunday at 1 p.m. LSU will start junior right-hander Jake Tompkins, who will be making his first appearance for the Tigers.
Rocky Scelfo led off the 13th for LSU with a single, then went to second on David Raymer’s sacrifice bunt. Sean Barker laced a one-out single, but then BSC reliever Mac Godwin (0-1) fanned Wally Pontiff for the second out.
Hill came up and laced a shot down the line into the left field corner, allowing both runners to score.
The hit made a winner out of LSU reliever Jason Determann in his first collegiate appearance. Determann, a true freshman left-hander from Baton Rouge’s Catholic High, allowed just one run on two hits over four innings of relief.
The teams traded a single run in the 10th. In the BSC half of the frame, Connor Robertson drew a leadoff walk, then Adam Tucker singled to put runners on the corners. Ryan Griffith then hit a chopper to shortstop against a drawn-in infield, but Aaron Hill bobbled the ball as Robertson crossed the plate to give the Panthers their first lead of the game at 4-3.
Eric Wiethorn’s pinch hit single started LSU on the comeback trail in the 10th, and after moving up on a Matt Heath sacrifice bunt and a balk by BSC pitcher Wes Letson, Darren Welch lifted a sacrifice fly to score Wiethorn with the tying run.
BSC was stymied for the first seven innings by LSU starter Lane Mestepey, who allowed only four hits and struck out six while staking the Tigers to a 3-0 lead.
But as was the case last night, the Panthers overcame at three-run LSU lead in the eighth inning, rallying this time to tie the game.
Cory Hamrick led off the eighth with a double off the right-center field fence, then Connor Robertson followed with a double to right-center to put the Panthers on the board and chase Mestepey, last year’s SEC Freshman of the Year.
Tiger reliever Brad David then blew LSU’s second save opportunity in as many nights when he gave up a two-run homer to Adam Tucker.
The Tigers manufactured the game’s first run in the opening frame as Raymer drew a leadoff walk and Barker singled before both runners advanced on Pontiff’s sacrifice bunt. Hill’s ground ball to second plated Raymer, but Barker was stranded at third.
LSU added to the lead with single runs in the sixth and seventh innings. The run in the sixth came when Panther shortstop Michael Wydner threw wide on a double play attempt, allowing Blake Gill to score, while Hill’s sacrifice fly scored the Tiger run in the seventh.