BATON ROUGE — For the first time in three years, an opponent came into Alex Box Stadium and swept a series from the LSU Fighting Tigers, as the Kansas Jayhawks took a doubleheader from LSU on Sunday by scores of 6-4 and 9-7.
The last team to sweep LSU in Baton Rouge was Houston, who did so in 2000. The Tigers were also swept by Arkansas in Fayetteville in 2001.
LSU (4-3) continues its seven-game homestand on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. against Louisiana-Monroe. The Tigers (No. 6 Collegiate Baseball, No. 7 ESPN/USA Today, No. 8 Baseball America) will host nationally ranked Houston next weekend in a three-game series.
The sweep marked the first over a ranked opponent on the road in Kansas’ history. The Jayhawks (9-3) won the opening game of the series on Friday night, 9-6 in 10 innings.
GAME 1: KANSAS 6, LSU 4
Travis Metcalf’s three-run home run in the fifth inning broke a 2-2 tie and provided Kansas with its wining margin as the Jayhawks held on to win the opener, 6-4.
Kevin Wheeler’s one out single and a two-out double by Casey Spanish in the fifth set the table for Metcalf, who hit a fastball by Brian Wilson the opposite way over the right field fence to give the Jayhawks a 5-2 lead.
Metcalf led the Jayhawks’ 14-hit attack by going 3-for-5, while five other Kansas players had two hits each.
Aaron Hill’s RBI single in the bottom of the fifth scored Quinn Stewart to cut the Kansas lead to 5-3, but with runners on second and third with one out following Ryan Patterson’s sacrifice bunt, Jayhawk reliever Brandon Johnson struck out Blake Gill and got pinch hitter Bruce Sprowl to ground out.
Stewart’s RBI single scored Matt Horwath in the sixth to pull LSU to within one run, but again, with only one out, the Tigers were unable to get a runner home from second, with J.C. Holt hitting into a fielder’s choice and Aaron Hill flying out to center.
The Jayhawks used an errant pickoff throw by LSU reliever Billy Sadler and a passed ball by Matt Liuzza to score an insurance run in the ninth.
Johnson improved to 3-0 by going four-plus innings and striking out three, allowing one run on three hits.
Kansas used three hits to take a 2-0 lead in the second inning, as Matt Tribble and Spanish led off with back-to-back singles, and on Spanish’s hit, an overthrow by Patterson trying to cut down Tribble at third allowed Spanish to reach second.
Two batters later, Jayhawk catcher Jake Kauzlarich, who came in hitting 1-for-11 on the season, knocked in both runs with a base hit back through the box.
Kansas collected 11 hits off of LSU starting pitcher Brian Wilson (1-1), who labored through five innings by throwing 109 pitches, despite striking out six.
GAME 2: KANSAS 9, LSU 7
Kansas exploded for seven runs on eight hits — all with two out — in the third inning as the Jayhawks completed the sweep in a game called after seven innings.
LSU took a 1-0 lead when Patterson doubled home Hill in the first inning, but as was the case in the two instances that the Tigers led in Friday’s series opener, Kansas responded immediately.
The response was a Metcalf RBI single to score Spanish, who doubled with two out.
LSU starting pitcher Nate Bumstead retired the first two batters of the third inning, but gave up a bunt single to Lance Hayes and another base hit to Ritchie Price to bring up Ryan Baty, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a double just inside the third base bag to score Hayes and Price and give the Jayhawks a 3-1 lead.
Kevin Wheeler flowed Baty with a single to score the runner from second and extend the lead to 4-1, and following another base hit, this one by Matt Tribble, Spanish launched a three-run home run off the billboard behind the right field fence to extend Kansas’ lead to 7-1.
Metcalf then knocked Bumstead out of the game one batter later with a towering home run off the scoreboard in right center field. Bumstead, who pitched 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball last Sunday in defeating Northwestern State, gave up eight earned runs on nine hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Reliever Jordan Faircloth gave up a hit to Sean Flynn and walked Brandon Shepard before finally ending the inning when Hayes bounced into a fielder’s choice.
The Tigers got two runs in the fourth on Patterson’s leadoff home run and an RBI single by Shawn French. LSU continued its rally in the fifth, loading the bases and scoring a run with no out when Gill drew a bases-loaded walk. But the Tigers could not muster a hit, scoring two more runs on ground balls by Jon Zerinuge and Ivan Naccarata, but leaving two on to end the inning.
LSU had the tying run on in the sixth with Patterson at the plate, but his weak ground ball back to the mound squelched the threat. The Tigers got one more chance in the seventh with runners on second and third with and one out and the tying run at the plate, but could only muster a Matt Horwath sacrifice fly.
GAME 1 LINESCORE
Kansas (8-3) 020 030 001– 6 14 1
LSU (4-2) 002 011 000– 4 8 2
Josh Duran, Brandon Johnson (5), Chris Smart (9) and Jake Kauzlarich, Sean Flynn (7); Brian Wilson, Jason Determann (6), Billy Sadler (8) and Matt Liuzza.
WP–Johnson, 3-0.
LP–Wilson, 1-1.
S–Smart (2).
2B–Kansas: Casey Spanish (3); LSU: Quinn Stewart (4), Matt Horwath (2).
HR–Kansas: Travis Metcalf (2).
T–3:08.
A–6,964 (paid); 1,865 (actual).
GAME 2 LINESCORE
Kansas (9-3) 017 010 0– 9 13 0
LSU (4-3) 100 230 1– 7 8 0
Game called after 7 innings due to Kansas’ travel itinerary.
Pat Holmes, Kenny Falconer (5), Ryan Knippschild (5) and Sean Flynn; Nate Bumstead, Jordan Faircloth (3), Greg Smith (6) and Shawn French.
WP–Holmes, 2-0.
LP–Bumstead, 1-1.
S–Knippschild (1).
2B–Kansas: Ryan Baty (5), Casey Spanish (4), Travis Metcalf (2); LSU: Ryan Patterson (1).
HR–Kansas: Spanish (1), Metcalf (3); LSU: Patterson (1).
T–2:13.
A–6,994 (paid); 2,017 (actual)