METAIRIE, La. — Ryan Patterson went 3-for-5 with three RBI — his 11th multiple RBI game of the season — leading LSU past Southeastern Louisiana, 9-3, in the first-annual Wally Pontiff Jr. Baseball Classic held at Zephyr Field Wednesday night.
Proceeds from Wednesday’s game benefited the Wally Pontiff Foundation. Pontiff, a former all-SEC third baseman, died tragically on July 24, 2002 at the age of 21 due to heart abnormalities. A three-year letterman, he helped lead LSU to the 2000 national championship as a designated hitter. The Metairie native earned the Most Outstanding Player of the 2002 SEC Tournament as a freshman.
The Tigers (No. 7 Baseball America, No. 9 ESPN/Sports Weekly, No. 12 Collegiate Baseball) won their second game in as many days, improving to 26-9 on the season. Georgia visits Alex Box Stadium this weekend in an important Southeastern Conference series that gets underway Friday night at 6:30 p.m.
The Lions (11-21) dropped their third game to LSU this year, and the teams will meet again on May 19 at Baton Rouge.
Five of the Tigers’ nine runs came without the benefit of a base hit, as the Lions induced three double plays on the night.
Lane Mestepey (4-1) notched his fourth win of the season, going four strong innings in relief. The junior southpaw allowed no runs, surrendered just two hits and struck out four in relief of Michael Bonura.
“When you see Lane getting those ground balls off of his fastball and getting on top a little more, I’d say he is getting closer to where he needs to be,” said LSU head coach Smoke Laval. “He was obviously the biggest bright spot on the night.”
J.C. Holt was hit by a pitch to start the game, and Patterson followed with a single to left field. Both moved over a base after a wild pitch. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead on Matt Liuzza’s RBI groundout.
Bonura, making his second start of the season and first since February 17, retired the first two batters he faced but then yielded a single and back-to-back walks. The freshman righty got out of the inning unscathed as Randy Roth lined out to Blake Gill, leaving the bases loaded.
The Tigers tacked on two more runs in the second. After Ivan Naccarata and Jon Zeringue singled, Dustin Weaver grounded to shortstop Jason Waguespack, who misplayed the ball, allowing Naccarata and Zeringue to score and make it a 3-0 contest.
SLU starter Paul Garner was lifted one batter later, giving way to Chad Pendarvis, who induced a 5-4-3 double play ground ball off of the bat of Will Harris to end the frame.
Bonura fell into trouble again, this time in the third. Jimmy Bertelson delivered a sacrifice ground out, scoring Russell Taylor. Colby Tyler would then come around to score on a wild pitch.
Brady Sledge’s solo homer in the fourth tied the game at three apiece. Sledge hammered Bonura’s 1-0 offering deep over the left field wall for his first homer of the season.
Pendarvis got into a groove between the third and fourth innings, retiring the sides in order before allowing a hit to Weaver in the fifth. In that inning, the Tigers pushed across two runs on three hits, highlighted by Patterson’s two-run single into left field.
“I felt like it was a pretty good approach tonight at the plate,” said Patterson. “We had some big hits with runners on and that is all you can ask for — any way you can get runs across the board. I felt like our offense is getting there.”
Bonura was relieved in the fifth after going four innings, allowing three runs on four hits. Mestepey got out of a two-on, two-out jam in the fifth before setting down six straight hitters between the sixth and seventh innings.
Patterson connected on his third hit of the game in the eighth, knocking an RBI double down the right field line off of Tony Territo, the Lions’ fifth pitcher of the game. One batter later, Territo surrendered an RBI triple to Blake Gill, giving the Tigers a comfortable 9-3 advantage going into the ninth.
Greg Smith worked a scoreless ninth to preserve the victory. Pendarvis (2-5) took the loss as he allowed two runs on three hits in four innings.
LSU 9, Southeastern La. 3 (Apr 14, 2004 at Metairie, La.)
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LSU…………….. 120 022 002 – 9 11 1 (26-9)
Southeastern La….. 002 100 000 – 3 7 1 (11-21)
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Pitchers: LSU – Bonura; Mestepey(5); Smith, G.(9). Southeastern La. – Garner; Pendarvis(2); McClure(6); Lado(6); Territo(9).
Win-Mestepey(4-1) Loss-Pendarvis(2-5) T-2:42 A-7048
HR SLU – Sledge (1).
Garner faced 3 batters in the 2nd.