BATON ROUGE — Matt Heath went 3-for-4 and drove in six runs and Clay Harris added a grand slam as LSU routed Mercer, 17-1, Sunday at Alex Box Stadium, giving the Tigers (6-1) a sweep of the three-game weekend series.
The Tigers (No. 2 ESPN/Baseball Weekly, No. 3 Collegiate Baseball, No. 5 Baseball America) begin a four-game road trip on Tuesday night when they take on Centenary at 7 p.m. at Fair Grounds Field in Shreveport.
Blake Gill, who came into the game 0-for-16 this season, went 4-for-4. Heath, who had not driven in a run in the first six games of the year, finished the game just a home run short of the cycle and set a career high for RBI. The Tigers collected season highs for runs and hits as LSU won easily after struggling with the Bears (3-6) in the first two games of the series.
J.C. Holt got the Tigers’ first hit with a bunt single in the first, then stole second and went to third on a subsequent errant throw by Drew Starke. Holt would then score the game’s first run on Sean Barker’s ground ball.
David Harwell’s errant throw on a ground ball by Jason Vargas to start the second was the catalyst for a three-run inning by LSU. With Vargas on second, Gill got his first career hit to move the Vargas to third, and Rocky Scelfo’s single one batter later made it 2-0.
Chris Phillips’ RBI single plated Gill and moved Scelfo to third, and a sacrifice fly by Heath following Phillips’ hit put LSU in front 4-0.
The runs would be more than enough for Tompkins, as the California native faced the minimum number of batters through the first four innings and did not yield a run until Kyle Levengood singled home Kyle Hurst with two out in the sixth. Tompkins walked one and struck out six in 6 2/3 innings before being removed due to a strained muscle in his rib cage.
Vargas, who went 2-for-5 at the plate, relieved Tompkins and pitched 1 1/3 innings of perfect relief.
The Tigers exploded for nine runs in the seventh inning, as Heath had a bases-clearing double and Harris had a pinch-hit grand slam, the second time in as many days an LSU pitcher had hit a bases-loaded home run as a pinch hitter, as Vargas did so on Saturday.
Harris, who pitched 5 1/3 innings of relief to earn the win on Saturday, became the first LSU player to hit a grand slam in his first plate appearance.