NATCHITOCHES, La. — Aaron Hill’s two-run double capped a four run eighth inning for LSU as the Fighting Tigers rallied for a 6-4 victory over Northwestern State on Wednesday night in front of an overflow crowd of 2,329 at Brown-Stroud Field.
The Tigers (22-10-1) return home to host Southeastern Conference rival Ole Miss in a three-game weekend series starting Friday at 7 p.m. The series continues with games at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. LSU, which has won its past eight conference series, is 9-2-1 in the SEC, just percentage points behind league leader Mississippi State.
Through the first seven innings, Northwestern St. starting pitcher Cory Keener handcuffed the Tigers’ potent offense, limiting LSU to two runs on four hits while posting 10 strikeouts and overcoming six walks as the Demons built a 4-2 lead.
To start the eighth, reliever Zach Sanches retired LSU leadoff hitter Clay Harris on a ground ball back to the mound, but the southpaw gave up a ground ball single to Blake Gill and a double off the left field wall to Quinn Stewart to put two runners in scoring position.
Jon Zeringue, who struck out three times against Keener, managed a full-count walk, prompting Northwestern St. coach Mitch Gaspard to replace Sanches with right-hander Eric Broaddus to face Matt Liuzza with the bases loaded.
Broaddus uncorked a wild pitch to score Gill from third, and then Broaddus walked Liuzza and Bruce Sprowl to force home pinch runner J.C. Holt with the tying run. Aaron Gravis, the Demon’s number two starter in Southland Conference play, was called upon to relieve Broaddus.
Gravis struck out Ryan Patterson, but Hill lined a 2-1 fastball into the gap in left-center field to send Zeringue and Liuzza across the plate.
Hill, the Tigers’ leading hitter on the year at .368, is 9-for-12 with two doubles, two home runs and nine RBI in his last three games.
LSU scored the first run of the game in the top of the first when Patterson came home on a two-out wild pitch Keener.
LSU starter Billy Sadler ran into trouble in the bottom of the first when he gave up a leadoff hit to Josh Boop, who moved to third on a stolen base and a wild pitch with no out. But Sadler fought out of trouble by striking out Michael Palermo and Michael Adams before Anatole Vincent grounded out to third base to end the inning.
Sadler retired the first two Demons in the third, but then hit Palermo and gave up a single to Adams before Vincent doubled into the left field corner to score Palermo with the tying run.
Sadler, making the first start of his LSU career after appearing in 11 games out of the bullpen this year, gave up four hits and struck out three in his three inning stint.
Brandon Morgan led off the Demons’ fourth with a base hit off of LSU reliever Chad Vaught, then stole second and went to third on Jeff Martin‘s ground out to second, then scoring on Tigger Lyles’ RBI single over the drawn in Tiger infield.
Northwestern St. (21-15) extended the lead to 3-1 when Lyles alertly kept running on an infield hit by Boop, sliding around the tag of LSU catcher Shawn French.
The Tigers cut the lead to 3-2 in the top of the sixth on Aaron Hill’s leadoff home run, and LSU would get two runners on with one-out walks to Harris and Gill. But Keener kept the Demons in the lead by getting Stewart to hit into a fielder’s choice that forced Gill at second before freezing Zeringue with a called third strike to end the inning.
LSU reliever Jason Determann gave up a sixth-inning double to Palermo that scored Boop to extend the Demon lead to 4-2, but allowed just one hit over the final three innings to pick up the win and improve to 2-0.
LSU (22-10-1) 100 001 040– 6 7 0
Northwestern St. (21-15) 001 201 000– 4 11 1
Billy Sadler, Chad Vaught (4), Jason Determann (6) and Shawn French, Matt Liuzza (7); Cory Keener, Zach Sanches (8), Eric Broaddus (8), Aaron Gravis (8) and Jeff Martin.
WP–Determann, 2-0.
LP–Sanches, 1-4.
2B–LSU: Aaron Hill (11), Quinn Stewart (6); Northwestern St.: Anatole Vincent (10), Steven Adams (9), Michael Palermo (4).
HR–LSU: Aaron Hill (4).
T–3:12.
A–2,329.