BATON ROUGE — Senior outfielder Ryan Patterson finished a single shy of the cycle, going 3-for-5 with four runs, five RBI and his first career grand slam to lead fourth-ranked LSU in a 17-hit assault over UNO by a score of 18-10 on Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (20-6) won the 14th time in their last 15 meetings with the Privateers (6-17). LSU resumes Southeastern Conference play this weekend at Alabama. Game times are slated for 6:30 p.m. (Friday), 6 p.m. (Saturday) and 2 p.m. (Sunday) at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
Tuesday night’s slugfest featured a combined 28 runs, 26 hits, eight errors, five home runs and nine pitchers between the two teams.
Brandon Nall (1-1) earned his first career win, pitching three innings of relief and allowing four runs on two hits with three walks. Three of the runs were unearned courtesy of four Tiger errors in the sixth.
UNO reliever Daniel Rodriguez (1-3) was tagged with the loss, surrendering five runs (three earned) on six hits in 3.2 innings.
The Tigers 3-4-5 hitters continued their domination, including Patterson and Clay Harris, who extended their hitting streaks to 15 games. Nick Stavinoha added two hits, two runs and an RBI on a solo homer in the third.
UNO exploded for four runs in the first as starter Eric English struggled early. Michael Hollander, who has been brilliant at shortstop over the past two weeks, booted a ground ball on the game’s first pitch allowing Josh Jones to reach base. Brandon Bowser and Mike Costantino followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases with no outs.
Paul Smyth then ripped a bases clearing triple off of the left field wall to clear the bases. Smyth was able to come in and score on a wild pitch, and UNO held a 4-0 lead with the Tigers coming to bat.
LSU countered with three runs in its half of the first, highlighted by Patterson’s RBI triple off of the centerfield wall.
The teams continued to battle back and forth offensively. The Privateers plated two more in the second on Nate Murray’s two-run homer — his first blast of the season.
But the Tigers finally took command of the game, scoring nine unanswered runs over the next four frames with the use of the home run.
Dustin Weaver unloaded his second homer of the season in the second, a two-run shot just over the left field wall. In the third, Stavinoha and Hollander blasted solo shots.
LSU doubled up UNO in the fifth, jumping back out in front with a 12-6 lead. Four of the first five Tiger batters in the inning reached base, and with two outs Patterson came to the plate with a triple and a double already to his credit.
Grant Birely, the Privateers’ third pitcher of the game, then surrendered a 1-2 offering to Patterson, who belted his first career grand slam halfway up the light pole in left field.
“Guys were on base, and I wanted to get something done because we were only up 8-6 at the time,” said Patterson. “We were swinging the bats well but only being up two runs is not enough. I just tried to focus and drive somebody in.”
The tape-measure shot left the senior a single shy of the cycle. He nearly achieved the feat in the eighth but lined out to centerfield on an excellent play by Bowser.
A five-run sixth capped by two-run singles from Clay Harris and Jordan Mayer gave LSU a comfortable 17-10 advantage.
LSU 18, New Orleans 10 (Mar 29, 2005 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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New Orleans……… 420 004 000 – 10 9 2 (6-17)
LSU………………… 322 145 01X – 18 17 6 (20-6)
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Pitchers: New Orleans – Vergara; Rodriguez(2); Birely(5); Rogers(6); Augustavo(8). LSU – English; Nall(4); Cahill(7); Dardar(9).
Win-Nall(1-1) Loss-Rodriguez(1-3) T-3:11 A-7324
HR UNO – Murray (1).
HR LSU – Patterson (12); Stavinoha (6); Hollander (1); Weaver (2).
Actual attendance: 2,814
Vergara faced 2 batters in the 2nd.
Birely faced 3 batters in the 6th.