BATON ROUGE — LSU’s Aaron Hill tied a school record for hits by going 5-for-5 and hitting for the cycle, but it wasn’t enough, as South Carolina used a pair of fourth inning home runs and six runs in the middle three innings to down the Fighting Tigers, 8-5 on Saturday night at Alex Box Stadium, pulling the Gamecocks even in the three-game Southeastern Conference series.
LSU (20-10-1, 8-2-1 SEC) missed an opportunity to reclaim first place in the overall SEC standings, as Kentucky defeated league leader Mississippi State, 8-2, and Alabama downed archrival Auburn, 3-1.
The Gamecocks (20-11, 5-6) will attempt to win their second consecutive series over LSU in the rubber match on Sunday at 1 p.m.
South Carolina (No. 20 ESPN/USA Today, No. 22 Collegiate Baseball) got its first two batters on walks by Pettit, and then Brian Buscher immediately gave the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead with an opposite field double down the left field line.
LSU starting pitcher Bo Pettit walked Landon Powell to load the bases, but managed to keep the Gamecocks off the board for the rest of the inning by retiring the next three batters in order.
LSU (No. 10 Collegiate Baseball, No. 12 Baseball America, No. 16 ESPN/USA Today) briefly tied the game in the third on Aaron Hill’s RBI double that scored J.C. Holt, who doubled to extend his hitting streak to 10 consecutive games.
South Carolina put the game out of reach with a four-run fourth, which was highlighted by a three-run home run by Michael Campbell and a two-out solo shot by Kevin Mellilo. The Gamecocks would put up another run in the fifth on a Trey McDaniel double before Greg Smith replaced Pettit following the inning.
Pettit gave up six earned runs on seven hits and walked five to fall to 5-1 on the year. The Houston native is now 0-4 in his career against South Carolina, including two losses in 2002.
Hill, who singled the first, led off the sixth inning with a solo home run, then added another single in the eighth and tripled home Matt Liuzza in the ninth to complete the cycle, LSU’s first since Mike Koerner did so against Virginia Commonwealth on March 1, 1997.
South Carolina starting pitcher David Marchbanks scattered 10 hits over 7 2/3 innings but walked no Tiger batters and struck out six to improve to 6-2 on the year.
The start of the game was delayed for two hours by rain. A severe thunderstorm moved through Baton Rouge at approximately 12:15 p.m., leaving the outfield and the dugouts totally underwater. The rain finally subsided just before the original start time of 3 p.m., allowing the grounds crew time to drain most of the water and make the field playable.
South Carolina (20-11, 5-6) 100 411 100– 8 10 1
LSU (20-10-1, 8-2-1) 001 001 012– 5 13 2
David Marchbanks, Chris Hernandez (8) and Landon Powell; Bo Pettit, Greg Smith (6) and Matt Liuzza.
WP–Marchbanks, 6-2.
LP–Pettit, 5-1.
2B–USC: Brian Buscher (9), Trey McDaniel (1); LSU: J.C. Holt (5), Aaron Hill (10).
3B–LSU: Hill (3).
HR–USC: Michael Campbell (4), Kevin Melillo (3); LSU: Hill (3), Jon Zeringue (7).
T–2:39.
A–7,499 (paid); 3,180 (actual).