NASHVILLE — Vanderbilt ace Jeremy Sowers limited LSU to two hits over the first six innings, and Warner Jones went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a home run to lead the Commodores to a 4-2 victory over the Fighting Tigers in the first game of a Southeastern Conference series on Friday night at Hawkins Field in front of a season high crowd of 1,471.
LSU (25-12-1, 11-4-1) missed an opportunity to expand its lead in the SEC, as its closest pursuer, Auburn, lost 9-7 at home to Arkansas. The Tigers maintain a half-game lead over both Auburn and Mississippi State, whose game at South Carolina was suspended in the top of the seventh with the Bulldogs trailing 2-0.
Vanderbilt (18-18, 7-9) won its third consecutive game over LSU and can clinch its second consecutive series win over the Tigers on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Sowers (3-4), who allowed six runs on nine hits in taking a 6-0 loss to LSU in Baton Rouge last year, walked only one, struck out six and scattered five hits over 7 1/3 innings to win his third consecutive start.
LSU, which managed just two hits off of Sowers through the first six innings and could not get a single runner to second base, finally showed signs of life in the seventh, as Clay Harris coaxed a leadoff walk out of a full count and Blake Gill followed with a double to the left-center field gap.
Harris scored on Quinn Stewart’s ground ball to shortstop Ryan Klosterman, but Sowers helped the Commodores maintain a 3-1 lead by retiring Jon Zeringue on a ground ball and striking out Matt Liuzza.
Vanderbilt countered the LSU run in the bottom of the seventh with a two-out RBI single by Cesar Nicolas to rebuild the lead to three runs.
Ryan Patterson scored with one out in the eighth when Jones, the Commodore left fielder, overran Aaron Hill’s base hit, allowing Hill to go to second.
Commodore relief ace Jensen Lewis replaced Sowers and gave up an infield hit to Ivan Naccarata to put runners on the corners, but Lewis got out of the jam when he induced Clay Harris to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Lewis retired the side in order in the ninth for his sixth save.
Sowers retired the Tigers in order in the top of the first, and the Commodore offense went to work in the bottom of the inning. LSU starter Justin Meier struck out two of the first three batters he faced, but a two-out double by Jones put runners on second and third for John Kaye, who doubled over the head of LSU right fielder Jon Zeringue to score both runners and put Vanderbilt ahead 2-0.
Sowers retired the first seven batters, with LSU finally collecting its first hit with one out in the third on a Zeringue single. Gill accounted for the Tigers’ other hit in the first six innings with a leadoff
Meier gave up a two-out double to Zach Simpson in the second before settling into a groove, retiring 12 of the next 14 batters he faced and giving up only two singles. However, with Sowers holding the Tigers in check, Meier could not afford another mistake, but with one out in the sixth, Jones launched a Meier pitch over the left field fence just to the right of the 30-foot green monster to give Vanderbilt a 3-0 lead.
Meier took his second consecutive loss to fall to 4-2, giving up 10 hits in seven innings.
LSU (25-12-1, 11-4-1) 000 000 110– 2 6 0
Vanderbilt (18-18, 7-9) 200 001 10x– 4 12 2
Justin Meier, Greg Smith (8) and Matt Liuzza; Jeremy Sowers, Jensen Lewis (8) and Jonathan Douillard.
WP–Sowers, 3-4.
LP–Meier, 4-2.
S–Lewis (6).
2B–LSU: Blake Gill (7); Vanderbilt: Warner Jones 2 (8), John Kaye (4), Zach Simpson (2), Tony Mansolino (9)
HR–Vanderbilt: Jones (3).
T–2:22.
A–1,471.