BATON ROUGE — Making his first start on short notice, LSU pitcher Nate Bumstead pitched seven strong innings and did not allow a run until two outs in the seventh inning, and Brandon Nall pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief as the Fighting Tigers held off Northwestern State, 5-3, completing the three-game sweep on a damp Sunday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU (No. 6 Collegiate Baseball, No. 7 ESPN/USA Today, No. 9 Baseball America) is off to its sixth 3-0 start in the past eight years, and have now won 11 of their last 12 against Louisiana opponents.
LSU plays its first road game of 2003 on Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Centenary at Shreveport’s Fair Grounds Field. The Tigers have won 20 consecutive games over the Gents, including last year’s 7-6 victory.
Bumstead, a junior from Las Vegas who played last year at Southern Idaho, was scheduled to start on Tuesday, but was forced to take the mound for Sunday’s game when scheduled starter Bo Pettit fell ill with a case of the flu. Bumstead scattered five hits and struck out four to pick up the win.
But the Tigers had to survive a few anxious moments in the eighth. Tigger Lyles led off with a single against LSU reliever Chad Vaught, and then moved up to second on a wild pitch. Vaught walked Brian Hobbs before closer Brandon Nall was called upon to put out the fire.
Scott Pittenger sacrificed the runners to second and third, and Lyles scored on an infield single by Josh Boop to cut the lead to 4-3. With the tying runner now on third, Steven Adams grounded into an inning ending double play, the Tigers’ third of the game.
LSU got an insurance run in the eighth on Dustin Weaver’s RBI single, and Nall retired the side in order in the ninth for his second save of the weekend.
LSU took a 4-2 lead in the seventh with help of a Northwestern St. error when Demon shortstop Nolan Jones threw away a ground ball by Matt Liuzza, leading the Tigers’ leadoff man on second base. Ryan Patterson’s single moved Liuzza to third, and Patterson also took second on the throw to the plate to put two runners in scoring position.
Bruce Sprowl’s one-hop single off the pitcher’s mound scored Liuzza to put LSU in front, and Patterson then scored on Aaron Hill’s sacrifice fly.
Northwestern St. had the game’s first scoring opportunity in the top of the fourth, putting runners on the corners with one out. Bumstead got out of the jam by inducing Hunter Thoms to tap a ground ball back to the mound, and Bumstead started the inning ending 1-6-3 double play.
Blake Gill led off the bottom of the fourth with a base hit through the right side of the Demon infield, and Jon Zeringue’s double two batters later left runners on second and third with one out. Gill scored the game’s first run on Matt Horwath’s sacrifice fly, and then Gill came across on a Matt Liuzza’s RBI single.
The runner in the fourth would be the only one Northwestern St. would have in scoring position through the first six innings. In the seventh, Adams and Anatole Vincent led off with back-to-back singles, but Thoms hit into another double play to leave a runner on third with two out.
This time, Northwestern St. tied the game with a two-run home run from Jeff Martin, the first for the Demons in the series and only the second extra base hit for Northwestern St. in the series.
Northwestern St. 000 000 210– 3 7 1
LSU 000 200 21x– 5 11 0
Phillip Martinez, Zach Sanches (5) and Jeff Martin; Nate Bumstead, Chad Vaught (8), Brandon Nall (9) and Matt Liuzza.
WP–Bumstead, 1-0.
LP–Sanches, 0-1.
S–Nall (2).
2B–LSU: Jon Zeringue (1).
HR–NSU: Jeff Martin (1).
T–2:26.
A–7,280 (paid); 2,752 (actual).