BATON ROUGE — LSU overcame four unearned runs caused by a passed ball on a strikeout in the top of the eighth inning to beat the Mercer Bears, 7-4, in the first game of the three-game weekend series on Friday night at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers improved to 4-1 overall while Mercer fell to 3-4.
Starting pitcher Bo Pettit (1-0) earned the win after pitching 7 2/3 innings and allowing no earned runs, though he was charged with all four unearned runs. The junior had 12 strikeouts and three walks while allowing eight hits. Weylin Guidry earned the save in 1 1/3 innings of relief.
For Mercer, starter James Morrison (0-3) was charged with the loss after giving up five runs (only two earned) over 6 1/3 innings while walking two and striking out three.
LSU was led by third baseman Wally Pontiff who was 2-for-3 with a home run, two runs scored and two RBI. Aaron Hill scored a pair of runs and was 2-for-5 at the plate. David Raymer was 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI. He reached base all four times he came to the plate.
LSU opened the game by taking advantage of a Mercer error by shortstop David Harwell on Hill’s routine ground ball to score the first run of the game. J.T. Holt singled to put runners on the corners for Sean Barker, who earned his 10th RBI of the season with a sacrifice fly to center field.
Pettit, who struggled to locate the plate early in the game, got out of bases-loaded jams in both the second and third innings after walking three batters and being plagued by a fielding error by Aaron Hill. In the second, Brian Jones grounded into a double play started by Pontiff’s snag along the third-base line. In the third, he gave up two singles and a walk before striking out Drew Starke to end the threat.
Mercer left six men on base through the first four innings of play.
After Jason Vargas walked to open the inning, the Tigers didn’t waste an opportunity with a runner on base in the bottom of the fourth, as Wally Pontiff took Morrison’s 1-1 offering and smashed it over the right field fence for a 3-0 lead.
Pettit gave up a leadoff double in the fourth and leadoff singles in the fifth and seventh, but settled down to retire 12 of 15 batters including three up and three down in the sixth on back-to-back strikeouts and a pair of strikeouts in the seventh.
The Tigers and Bears traded of unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh and the top of the eighth, as LSU got two on two Bears errors and Mercer got four off of a passed ball after a strikeout by Pettit.
After David Raymer and Hill singled with one out, Morrison was lifted in favor of Jason Stone. Pinch hitter Rocky Scelfo and Sean Barker both benefited from errors by Mercer third baseman Jarrod Lynch. Both Hill and Raymer came around to score and extend the lead to 5-0 before Stone ended the inning with a strikeout.
Pettit struck out the first three batters of the eighth inning, but it was a passed ball by LSU catcher Dustin Weaver to the second batter that allowed Kyle Levengood to reach base. Consequently, Mike Appalucci homered to drive in two runs before back-to-back singles send Pettit to the showers. Weylin Guidry allowed an RBI single, a walk and an RBI on a hit batter before recording the inning’s third out. LSU led 5-4.
The Tigers tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, as Pontiff walked, pinch hitter Eric Wiethorn singled and both advanced when the Mercer right fielder mishandled the ball. Pontiff came around the score on the play and Wiethorn would score on an RBI single by Raymer for a 7-4 lead.