BATON ROUGE — It stands to baseball reason that the team that wins the first game of a three-game series has a very distinct advantage when it comes to winning the series.
In last year’s super regional opener against Baylor, LSU lost that advantage yet still advanced. It seemed, after going down 5-0 in the top of the first, that would also be the case in this year’s super regional against Texas A&M.
But, the Tigers did not roll over in front of more than 7,500 screaming fans at Alex Box Stadium and fought back to claim game an 11-8 game-one win, putting themselves and their supporters one win away from another trip to Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium and the College World Series.
LSU’s Jason Determann gave up just two earned runs in a gutsy six complete innings in relief of starter Nate Bumstead to give the Tigers a chance to improve their record to 45-17. Texas A&M reliever Robert Ray gave up three earned runs in the sixth inning to drop his record to 2-2 and his team’s to 42-21.
LSU’s seemingly unstoppable hit machine pounded out 17 base knocks including two home runs and chased and battered five Aggie pitchers. The Tigers countered with three hurlers, including Jordan Faircloth who pitched a scoreless two and one-third innings to close the game and give him his fourth save of the year.
Tomorrow’s game promises to be a challenge for the Tigers who will face impressive Aggie lefty Zach Johnson who enters the game with a 10-6 record and 119 strikeouts in 112 innings this season. Johnson was the 32nd overall pick in this week’s Major League Draft.
LSU will be the visiting team and counter with lefty Lane Mestepey who battled some early-season downfalls to finish strong and enter the contest with a 6-3 record and 3.80 ERA. First pitch is set for just after 5 p.m. CDT and the game can be seen on ESPN2.
The Aggies took full advantage of a shaky Bumstead start by keeping the bats on their shoulders and drawing two-straight walks to open the first on their way to sending 10 batters to the plate.
Texas A&M scored its first run after Tiger shortstop Blake Gill let what could have been a double-play grounder by designated hitter Cory Patton skip under his glove into left field. Third baseman Austin Boggs followed the error with a single into right field, loading the bases with no outs.
Bumstead struck out first baseman Coby Mavroulis for the first out of the inning then induced a two-hopper back to the mound from catcher Craig Stinson. But, instead of attempting to start a double play, Bumstead lackadaisically tossed the ball to the plate for the second out.
The next two batters singled for the Aggies, scoring two unearned runs before Bumstead was removed in favor of reliever Jason Determann. The Tiger reliever gave up a single to nine-hole hitter Justin Ruggiano that plated the fifth Aggie run of the inning before lead-off man Erik Schindewolf lifted a fly ball to center field for the third out. Bumstead gave up five runs in just two-thirds of an inning with only one of the five counting as earned.
LSU cut into the lead slightly in the bottom of the first when J.C. Holt took the second pitch delivered from Aggie starter Jason Meyer over the scoreboard in right field for his sixth homer of the season and the first Tiger run. But the home half ended three batters later when right fielder Jon Zeringue grounded into a 6-4-3 double play that erased a single by catcher Matt Liuzza.
Texas A&M appeared poised to add to its lead in the top of the second after shortstop Cliff Pennington lined a double into the left field corner to open the frame. Determann stopped the threat however, when the next three Aggies flew out to center, grounded out and popped out to shortstop respectively.
The LSU offensive attack awoke in the bottom of the second by loading the bases with a single by designated hitter Nick Stavinoha, a one-out walk to Ivan Naccarata and a line-drive bullet off Meyer’s arm for a single by Will Harris. After Gill struck out swinging, Holt ran his season total with runners in scoring position to 36-68 by singling home two runs and cutting the Aggie lead to 5-3.
Left fielder Ryan Patterson followed Holt’s clutch single with one of his own, scoring Harris and cutting the A&M lead to 5-4. LSU loaded the bases again in the inning before Zeringue grounded into a fielder’s choice ending the threat after the Tigers batted around.
Patterson delivered again in the bottom of the fourth by crushing the first Meyer pitch of the at bat deep into the right-center gap for a one-out double that scored Gill who reached on a lead-off single. Patterson’s drive tied the score and chased Meyer from the game.
Meyer’s book was closed two batters later when relief pitcher Doug Frame gave up a line-drive single back through the box to Zeringue, giving LSU a 6-5 advantage. All six runs were earned against the Aggie starter who entered the game with a slight 2.45 ERA.
Neither team was able to push across a run in the fifth giving the scoreboard operator a short break. Texas A&M called him back to work in the top of the sixth, though as Pennington roped a two-out, two-run homer run into the left field bleachers on an 0-1 Determann fastball. The blast scored Travis Bartek as well, who led off the inning with a double, and gave the Aggies a 7-6 advantage.
But that lead evaporated quickly as Patterson rudely greeted Ray with a solo blast that easily cleared the fence in right center and tied the score 7-7. Ray, a hard throwing, tall right hander, was the polar opposite of the soft-tossing, curve-ball dominated lefties the Aggies threw at the Tigers in the first five innings. But the change of pace didn’t fool Patterson nor Liuzza and Zeringue, who followed the inning-opening blast with back-to-back singles.
It didn’t fool Clay Harris either as the Tiger third baseman lined the first pitch he saw from Ray into left field, scoring Liuzza with the go-ahead run and chasing Ray from the mound with two runners on and one out in the bottom of the sixth.
Kyle Nicholson, Ray’s replacement, fared little better as Naccarata greeted him with a shot to right field that scored Zeringue and gave LSU a 9-7 lead. Naccarata’s single was the 16th hit of the game for LSU and the fifth of the inning. The sixth inning ended for the Tigers when Gill flew out to left with runners at first and third.
LSU opened the door for the Aggies to cut into the lead with two costly fielding mistakes in the top of the seventh. Naccarata dropped a fly ball behind first base off the bat of third baseman Austin Boggs to lead off the inning, giving the Aggies a runner at second with no outs.
Determann then hit the next batter before striking out catcher Craig Stinson. Then, center fielder John Infante grounded to Gill for what should have been an inning-ending double play. But, after recording the out at second base, Naccarata’s throw to first was wide giving the Aggies a chance to score with runners at the corners.
Travis Bartek took advantage of his chance and drove the first pitch into center field for the RBI that cut the Tiger lead back to one run.
Determann left the game after the single to a standing ovation for giving his team the chance to win after being down five runs early. He made way for Faircloth who ended the A&M by inducing a fly ball to center from nine-hole hitter Justin Ruggiano.
Faircloth dodged a couple of bullets in the top of the eighth giving his offense a chance to expand on its precarious 9-8 lead in the bottom of the inning. Will Harris lined a one-out 2-2 fastball up the middle scoring his brother Clay who reached two batters earlier on a fielder’s choice. Gill followed that RBI single with a shot down the first base line that was smothered by Mavroulis for the out but good enough to score Naccarata who was on base thanks to a walk. Gill’s RBI gave the home team a breathable 11-8 advantage.
Faircloth gave up a two-out single in the top of the ninth but recorded a swinging strikeout to end the game.
LSU 11, Texas A&M 8 (Jun 12, 2004 at Baton Rouge, La.)
Texas A&M……….. 500 002 100 – 8 11 1 (42-21)
LSU…………….. 130 203 02X – 11 17 2 (45-17)
Pitchers: Texas A&M – Meyer; Frame(4); Ray(6); Nicholson(6); Whelan(8).
LSU – Bumstead;
Determann(1); Faircloth(7).
Win-Determann(6-4) Save-Faircloth(4) Loss-Ray(2-2) T-3:39 A-7598
HR TXAM – Pennington (5).
HR LSU – Holt (6); Patterson (14).
Paid Attendance: 7728
TEXAS A&M COACHES QUOTES
HEAD COACH MARK JOHNSON
“First of all, great college setting. I thought the fans came out and were supportive of both teams, and certainly the tigers. We didn’t pitch tonight as good as we were hoping. I thought eight runs, if you had told me we would get that opening night I would have told you we would got that ‘W’. They can hit the ball very well. You all know that. That’s what their thing is, and I thought they do it very, very well. I thought the pitchers had trouble establishing the strikes on both sides, particularly their starter. We had some trouble with that through a lot of pitches. We threw three freshman and two sophomores out there tonight that have thrown well, and have been a little inconsistent. It didn’t work as well, but all in all a good college baseball game. I thought we fought hard. We kept trying to get back into the ballgame, and just couldn’t get it done.”
TEXAS A&M PLAYER QUOTES
PITCHER JASON MEYER
“Well, I felt like we hit the ball well and made some good plays on defense. I don’t feel very well about the way I pitched tonight. They hit the ball well …”
“The ball hit me on the inner thigh. It didn’t affect the way I threw.”
SHORT STOP CLIFF PENNINGTON
“We didn’t score enough tonight. Ill still take Jason Meyer every day of the week. Were going to come back the next two days and put on a show for you. Well be alright.”
LSU COACHES QUOTES
“It was a tough first inning, and we had our chances. We could have turned two double plays, but that’s the game and they were very opportunistic. I tried to tell our guys just keep putting base runners on, and we’ve got to get opportunistic and hit with guys on base. That’s all we can do, just don’t panic and come on and swing the bats a little bit and hope Jason (Determann) holds them until at least we got close. That’s what happened.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
Relief pitcher Jason Determann
“You never like to come into the first (inning) as a reliever. That’s never a good sign. But with our hitters that we have hitting one through nine I don’t think there is a pitching staff in the country that can really shut us down. I knew I just had to hold us in the ballgame until we get some runs, get some momentum and get things back in our favor.”
Right fielder Ryan Patterson
…On his day at the plate
“I just tried to go up there and compete because (Jason) Determann was out there competing for us, keeping us in the game. You just go up there and keep trying to swing the bat, put some runs on the board. I was just trying to help out and swing the bat.”
Relief pitcher Jordan Faircloth
…On the double play in the eighth inning
“We do PFPs (pitcher fielding practice), that’s my most favorite thing to do in practice. Other pitchers get on to me whenever I go game speed when we do PFPs. I throw it as hard as I can to second (base), and I guess it paid off tonight. I knew (Blake) Gill was going to be there waiting for it, and I just kind of knew it was going to happen. I made a good throw and he made a good turn.”
Center fielder J.C. Holt
…On the importance of his homerun
“They had all of the momentum at that point in time. They’re on our field and they put up a five spot on us. You come back in the dugout, and as the leadoff guy you want to get on and make something happen, maybe get the home crowd behind you and things like that. He threw a curve ball to me, and I was lucky enough to hit it out. Just getting some of that momentum back was a big thing for us, and you could tell slowly but surely we got back into the game.”