BATON ROUGE, La. — Junior left-hander Lane Mestepey scattered eight hits over 6.2 innings Saturday and designated hitter Nick Stavinoha launched a two-run homer to lead LSU to a 5-1 victory over Southeastern Louisiana in Alex Box Stadium.
The teams meet in the final game of the series at 1 p.m. Sunday. Senior right-hander Nate Bumstead (2-0) will start on the mound for LSU, while SLU will counter with senior left- hander Mark Weinmunson (2-0).
LSU (15-2) has four in a row and 13 of its last 14 games. SLU dropped to 5-8 with Saturday’s loss.
“It was a low-intensity type game,” said LSU coach Smoke Laval. “Southeastern had 16 base runners, but only scored one run. We were living on borrowed time. They left 13 runners on base. We can’t win ball games like that.
“We had 11 hits, four for extra bases, they had three errors and we stole two bases, and we still only scored five runs. We left 11 runners on base; here again, we’re living on borrowed time. Every game, it seems like a few of our hitters take the night off. We’ve got to work on building momentum, we’ve got to quadruple our focus at the right time and put games away.”
Mestepey (3-1) limited the Lions to one run on eight hits in 6.2 innings with four walks and four strikeouts, as he fired 116 pitches.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning, when Stavinoha belted a two-run blast — his third homer of the season — off of SLU starter Rodney Story (0-3).
LSU added a run in the fifth on third baseman Clay Harris’ RBI single, and the Tigers extended the lead to 4-0 in the sixth when left fielder Ryan Patterson doubled and scored on second baseman Blake Gill’s single.
The Lions narrowed the deficit to 4-1 in the seventh when second baseman Jimmy Bertelson ripped an RBI double down the left-field line against Mestepey, who was then lifted for reliever Jordan Faircloth.
Faircloth struck out third baseman Anthony Garibaldi with Bertelson at second base to end the threat.
The Tigers scored another run in the eighth when Gill singled, stole second base, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on catcher Matt Liuzza’s RBI single.
Faircloth pitched the final 2.1 innings to earn his first save of the season, limiting the Lions to no runs on four hits with no walks and one strikeout.
Story was charged with the loss after allowing three runs — two earned — on seven hits in 4.1 innings with one walk and four strikeouts.
SLU 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 — 1 12 3
LSU 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 1 x — 5 11 1
E-Bertelson, Bordes, Lado, Horwath
DP-SLU 1, LSU 4
LOB-SLU 13, LSU 11
2B-Bertelson, Liuzza, Patterson, Gill. HR-Stavinoha (3)
HBP-Garibaldi. SB-Bordes, Holt, Gill. CS-Harris, W
Win-Mestepey (3-1)
Loss-Story (0-3)
Save-Faircloth (1)
Umpires-Graham, Schexnaydre, Chapman
Start-2 p.m. Time-2:46.
Att.-7978 (paid), 4609 (actual).