BATON ROUGE — Freshman left-hander Clay Dirks recorded his SEC-leading seventh win of the season, hurling seventh-ranked LSU past Georgia, 10-2, securing the series for the Tigers Saturday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU (28-9, 8-6) will attempt to complete their first three-game Southeastern Conference sweep of the season in the series finale set for 1 p.m. Sunday. Senior right-hander Nate Bumstead (5-1, 4.27) is scheduled to start for LSU against sophomore righty Michael Hyle (2-1, 3.06).
Center fielder J.C. Holt went 3-for-5 with three runs and three RBI, leading the Tigers to their seventh consecutive double-digit hit output.
Georgia starter Sean Ruthven (3-1) and Dirks (7-0) engaged in a scoreless pitchers’ duel for four innings until the Tigers pushed across three runs in the fifth.
Both pitchers retired the sides in order in the third and fourth innings. Dirks struck out the side in the third, while Ruthven fanned three straight batters in the fourth.
“Ruthven is a very, very good pitcher,” said LSU head coach Smoke Laval. “Last year he was good, coming off elbow surgery. You saw his competitiveness today.”
After managing only one hit through the first four innings, the Tigers finally broke through in the fifth, scoring three runs on three hits – including two with two outs – to take a 3-0 lead.
Jon Zeringue was hit by a pitch to start the frame and then Clay Harris lined a sharp double just inside the left field line, scoring Zeringue from first. Two batters later, Holt delivered a two-out, opposite field RBI single, while Ryan Patterson delivered an RBI single to culminate the scoring.
LSU added two runs in the bottom of the seventh, as RBI singles by Blake Gill and Matt Liuzza extended the lead to 5-0.
Georgia shortstop Justin Holmes ended any hopes of a shutout in the eighth, unloading on Dirks’ 2-1 offering for a solo homer – his fourth of the year. Before allowing the hit, Dirks had retired 16 of the previous 17 batters, allowing only a single by Jonathan Wyatt in the fifth.
A five-run eighth put the game out of a reach as the Tigers sent nine batters to the plate. The five-hit barrage was highlighted by Patterson’s three-run homer — his second of the series — and Holt’s two-run single.
Holding a 10-1 advantage, Laval elected to go to right-hander Jordan Faircloth in the ninth, relieving Dirks after a masterful eight innings. The Hernando, Miss. native scattered seven hits and struck out a career-high seven batters.
Dirks also fanned seven in wins over Tulane (March 2) and Auburn (April 3) earlier this season.
“I think last weekend I was a little overconfident,” said Dirks of his sub-par outing against Arkansas. “You can’t do that. Baseball is a game of highs and lows, and you have to stay in the medium. I had to regroup, refocus and come out on top.”
Faircloth surrendered one run in the ninth on Matt Robbins’ double.
Ruthven took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits in six innings.
LSU 10, Georgia 2 (Apr 17, 2004 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Georgia…………. 000 000 011 – 2 9 1 (21-15, 5-9 SEC)
LSU…………….. 000 030 25X – 10 14 1 (28-9, 8-6 SEC)
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Pitchers: Georgia – Ruthven; Woods(7); McLaughlin(8); Brown(8). LSU – Dirks; Faircloth(9).
Win-Dirks(7-0) Loss-Ruthven(3-1) T-2:41 A-8043
HR UG – Holmes (4).
HR LSU – Patterson (7).