AUBURN, Ala. — LSU got 7 1/3 innings of solid relief pitching from Brian Wilson and Jake Tompkins as LSU won its first Southeastern Conference series of 2002 by taking a 9-5 victory over homestanding Auburn Sunday at Plainsman Park.
Prior to this weekend, LSU had not won an SEC series since sweeping Alabama last April. LSU has also won four of its last five contests after losing six of eight prior to that.
LSU (20-13, 5-6) will face Louisiana archrival Tulane (19-15) at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a game that should set NCAA attendance records. More than 21,000 tickets have been sold for the contest, and are still available from Ticketmaster and the LSU Ticket office.
The LSU-Tulane game will be televised live throughout Louisiana on the Jumbo Sports Network (WB-10 in Baton Rouge) and in other SEC markets on Comcast Sports Southeast.
Wilson, a sophomore right-hander from New Hampshire who was to be LSU’s closer but has struggled most of the season, relieved starter Jason Vargas in the second inning and proceeded to retire 14 of the 15 batters he faced in the second through sixth innings, striking out five and walking none over 4 2/3 innings to improve to 4-2.
Wilson’s only problems came in the seventh inning with LSU ahead 7-3, as Tug Hulett led off with a double, and back-to-back singles by Chuck Jeroloman and Javon Moran scored Hulett and chased Wilson.
Jake Tompkins relieved Wilson and gave up an RBI single to Sean Gamble to make it 7-5, but Tompkins then got out of the jam by striking out Auburn’s leading hitter, Jonathan Schuerholz, and getting Bobby Huddleston, who is also hitting over .400 on the year, to hit into an inning-ending double play.
LSU re-expanded its lead to 9-5 in the eighth as J.C. Holt hit his first career home run over the 30-foot wall in left field, then Barker singled home Wally Pontiff with two out.
Tompkins then had to survive some anxious moments in the bottom of the ninth when he gave up a leadoff single to Hulett and walked Jeroloman. But Tompkins nailed down his second save by getting Moran to hit into a force play, striking out Gamble and getting Schuerholz to hit into a game-ending force at second.
The Tigers broke a 3-3 tie with a four-run third, as Matt Heath’s triple scored Sean Barker with the tie-breaking run. Heath would score on a wild pitch by Eric Brandon, who then yielded a two-run home run to David Raymer and was replaced by Mike Mueller.
Brandon, who pitched a perfect game earlier this year against Murray State and came in with a 2.68 ERA, gave up seven runs on seven hits in his shortest start of the year.
LSU took an early 3-0 lead in the first by scoring all of its runs with two out. Pontiff walked and Barker singled to put runners on the corners. Pontiff would score on Trent Pratt’s passed ball, and Barker would come across on Heath’s base hit. Heath would reach third when Hulett’s relay throw went into the Auburn dugout, and it would be 3-0 when Heath scored on Blake Gill’s single back through the box.
Auburn immediately began its comeback, though, scoring twice in the bottom of the first. Moran and Gamble started it with back-to-back singles off of Vargas, although Moran was cut down at third on Jonathan Schuerholz’ bunt. Vargas then balked the runners to second and third, and Gamble scored on a ground ball by Bobby Huddleston before Pratt singled home Schuerholz.
Vargas, making his first career SEC start and his first start since March 19, would last just 1 2/3 innings, as he gave up the game-tying double in the second to Moran. But Wilson ended the threat by getting Gamble to fly to left and striking out Schuerholz.