HAMMOND, La. — Wally Pontiff extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a home run, and Aaron Hill went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI as LSU (16-11) broke a three-game losing streak in midweek contests with an 9-7 victory over Southeastern Louisiana (13-12) Tuesday night at Alumni Field in front of 3,334 fans, the largest attendance for SLU this season.
The Tigers, ranked 22nd in the ESPN/Baseball Weekly poll, return home to for a three-game Southeastern Conference series against Mississippi State starting Friday at 6:30 p.m. Games two and three of the series with the Bulldogs are set for 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. LSU enters the series at 2-4 in SEC play, while coach Ron Polk’s MSU club is 3-3 in the league.
Hill, who missed eight games earlier this season with a separated shoulder, collected his second consecutive three-hit game after going 3-for-5 Sunday at Ole Miss. Hill also became the first Tiger this year to collect two doubles in one contest.
The Lions jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning as a single by Matt Rogelstad and a double by Anthony Kranjcic put two runners in scoring position, and Rhett Buras’ ground ball to third would score Rogelstad.
LSU stranded two runners in scoring position in the first inning, but they would get three on the board in the second. Blake Gill would reach third base without benefit of hit, as he walked, then stole second and went to third on a balk by Paul Labiche. Labiche hit Chris Phillips, then David Raymer singled back up the middle to score Gill with the tying run.
Labiche got J.C. Holt to fly to center, but Hill doubled for the second time in as many at-bats, scoring Phillips and Raymer for a 3-1 Tiger edge.
The lead wouldn’t last, as SLU’s Joey Duhe quickly tied the game with a two-run homer in the bottom of the second to knot the game at 3-3. It was Duhe’s first home run of the season and the first allowed by LSU pitcher Clay Harris in 17 2/3 innings.
Hill singled home another run in the fourth to give LSU a 4-3 lead, then the Tigers took advantage of an error by SLU first baseman Buras to score two runs in the fifth, on a ground ball by Eric Wiethorn and a sacrifice fly by Phillips.
LSU’s defense nearly gave the runs back in the bottom of the fifth. It started when Pontiff misplayed Russell Taylor’s ground ball, and after a single by Rogelstad, Hill dropped a throw from Gill that could have started a double play, leaving the bases loaded with no outs. Buras followed with a two-run single to shave LSU’s lead to 6-5 and drive Harris from the game after going four-plus innings.
Jason Vargas relieved Harris and after Blaine Wyninger sacrificed the runners to second and third, Vargas got out of the jam by getting Brandon Atkins to ground back to the mound and Robert Larsen to ground to Gill at first.
Pontiff’s home run to right-center, his fourth of the season, restored LSU to a 7-5 lead, and the Tigers would get single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to take a 9-5 lead.
SLU would cut the lead to 9-7 on Justin Casas’ two-run single, but Vargas worked out of any further trouble, then worked a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his first win of the year by going five innings in relief.