BATON ROUGE — Florida overcame an 8-5 LSU lead with three runs in the eighth inning as the Gators and Fighting Tigers played to an 8-8 tie in the finale of a Southeastern Conference series on Sunday at Alex Box Stadium.
The game was called after nine innings at 4:03 p.m., as the Gators were scheduled to depart Baton Rogue Metro Airport on a 5:55 p.m. flight. The start of the game was delayed 20 minutes by rain, and due to Florida’s itinerary that required no new inning begin after 4 p.m., the game had to start by 1:30 p.m. to avoid its cancellation.
The tie is LSU’s fourth since 1993, and first since 2001 at Arizona St. The Tigers tied South Carolina at home in 1993 and Georgia in Athens in 1999.
LSU (13-7-1, 2-0-1), which won the first two games of the series 9-0 and 3-2, begins an eight-game road trip, its longest of the season, on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against cross-town rival Southern. The Tigers open a three-game SEC series at Georgia on Friday.
The Tigers (No. 16 Baseball America, No. 18 Collegiate Baseball, No. 25 EPSN/USA Today) did not lead until the bottom of the sixth, when Clay Harris’ three-run home run capped a five-run sixth inning to put LSU ahead 8-5.
LSU got the first two batters on base in the sixth on a Matt Liuzza single and when Bruce Sprowl was hit by a pitch from Gator reliever Lee Roberson. J.C. Holt attempted to move the runners over with a bunt, but the ball came right back to Roberson, who fired to third to nail the lead runner.
Aaron Hill walked to load the bases, and then Ivan Naccarta extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a two-run single up the middle to score Sprowl and Holt to tie the game at 5-5.
Roberson struck out Blake Gill for the second out of the inning, and right-hander Darren O’Day replaced Roberson to face the right-handed hitting Harris. Harris lined O’Day’s 1-0 pitch into the left field bleachers to break the tie with his second home run of the season.
Naccarata led the Tigers with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate, while four other LSU players had two hits each to highlight a 16-hit effort for the Tigers.
Florida tied the game by scoring three runs in the eighth off of Tiger reliever Billy Sadler by scoring three runs with two out, as Jonathan Tucker singled home Jeff Corsaletti before Ben Harrison laced a two-run double into right field to knot the score.
LSU had runners on base in the eighth and ninth innings, but double plays erased any chances the Tigers had of breaking the deadlock.
In the Florida half of the sixth, the Gators grabbed a 5-3 lead as Corsaletti singled home Brian Rose who led off the frame with a double off of Justin Meier.
Sadler came in for Meier and gave up a hit to Justin Tordi, and following a sacrifice bunt by Jake Riordan to put both Corsaletti and Tordi in scoring position, Brett Dowdy singled home Corsaletti for a 5-3 lead. A wild pitch left runners on second and third with one out, but Sadler struck out Jonathan Tucker and C.J. Smith to end the inning.
Corsaletti was 3-for-4 and Dowdy 3-for-5 to pace the Gators’ 13-hit attack.
Florida, which had been limited to two runs on nine hits in the first two games of the series, got off to a quick start in the finale with a two-run first inning.
Dowdy started the game with a single to right filed off of LSU starter Jake Tompkins. Tompkins got Tucker to hit into a fielder’s choice and struck out Smith, but then gave up a two-out walk to Ben Harrison before Mario Garza laced a double over the head of Tiger center fielder Holt to score Tucker and Harrison for a 2-0 Gator lead.
Corsaletti’s leadoff double in the second led to another Gator run, as a sacrifice bunt by Tordi and Riordan’s sacrifice fly brought home Corsaletti to put LSU behind 3-0.
Harris and Quinn Stewart led off the second with back-to-back base hits, and although a one-out single by Liuzza loaded the bases, the Tigers could only realize one run in the inning, and that came on Sprowl’s sacrifice fly.
The 3-1 score held until the fourth, when Sprowl and Holt put together back-to-back RBI singles with one out to tie the game. Stewart led off the inning with a single, which was followed by a walk to Patterson.
Florida 210 002 030– 8 13 0
LSU 010 205 000– 8 16 0
Bryan Ball, Mike Pete (2), Tommy Boss (4), Lee Roberson (4), Darren O’Day (6), Adam Sanabria (7) and Brian Rose; Jake Tompkins, Justin Meier (4), Billy Sadler (6) and Matt Liuzza.
WP–None.
LP–None.
2B–Florida: Jeff Corsaletti 2 (8), Mario Garza (9), Brian Rose (4), Ben Harrison
HR–LSU: Clay Harris (2).
T–3:10.
A–7,375 (paid); 2,705 (actual).