NASHVILLE — The ninth-ranked LSU baseball team split a Southeastern Conference doubleheader with No. 25 Vanderbilt on an unseasonably cool Saturday at Hawkins Field, losing Game 1 by a score of 9-4, before responding with a 9-3 victory in the nightcap.
The Tigers (30-14, 11-9 SEC) still sit in second place in the SEC Western Division standings at the end of Saturday’s slate of games. The Commodores (29-12, 10-10) moved into a tie with South Carolina for third place in the Eastern Division.
Junior left-hander Greg Smith (6-2, 2.57) will take to the mound in the rubber game scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday. Vanderbilt will counter with hard-throwing freshman southpaw David Price (2-2, 2.22).
The game will be televised statewide by the Jumbo Sports Network (cable channel 6 in Baton Rouge).
Right fielder Nick Stavinoha led all hitters on Saturday, posting a 6-for-9 effort with a homer, two runs and an RBI. Ryan Patterson also contributed a homer, as part of a four-hit day for the senior outfielder.
GAME 1: LSU 4, VANDERBILT 9
Vanderbilt shortstop Dominic De La Osa went 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBI as senior Lane Mestepey’s recent struggles continued in a 9-4 loss to the Commodores in the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday.
The Tigers saw their SEC win streak end at five games, after earning two straight wins over No. 20 Ole Miss and a sweep of No. 11 Arkansas last weekend.
Mestepey (5-6) was tagged for six runs on five hits in 2.2 innings of work. He walked three, surrendered two hit-batsmen and recorded two strikeouts.
“He wasn’t really that bad but it is still not Mestepey,” said head coach Smoke Laval. “When you are struggling you need the line-drive out. He needs some good fortune in there and he didn’t get it. That’s the bottom line. The wrong guys get on to lead off the inning, which got their running game going.”
Three LSU pitchers combined for five walks, four hit-batsmen and two wild pitches, which aided the Vanderbilt cause.
Commodore starter Jensen Lewis (7-2) earned the victory, tossing 6.1 innings of six-hit ball. Lewis allowed four runs (three earned), walked one and struck out a season-high seven.
Offensively, Ryan Patterson and Nick Stavinoha collected two hits apiece. Patterson, who was named to the Golden Spikes Watch List earlier in the week, connected on his 17th home run of the season in the sixth. The 17 homers set a career high and are the most by an LSU player in a season since Todd Linden belted 20 homers in 2001.
Third baseman Chris Jackson’s hitting streak came to an end at 12 games.
Mestepey fell behind early for the third straight outing as the first four batters reached base in the second. A walk to Mike Baxter and a single by Brian Hernandez put runners on the corners.
De La Osa ripped a leadoff single off of Derek Hebert’s glove, bringing in the game’s first run and ending the Tigers’ streak of 24.1 innings of scoreless pitching.
Aaron Garza followed with a two-run single, and LSU faced a three-run deficit after two innings of play.
Derek Hebert earned the Tigers’ first hit off of Lewis in the third, drilling a double off the top of the right field wall. A fielder’s choice groundball by Jackson cut the lead to 3-1. Hebert was able to scamper home one batter later on catcher Brian Hernandez’ pass ball.
After Garza’s two-run single, Mestepey seemed to get back on track, retiring the next five batters, including the first two to start the third.
But Vanderbilt mounted a three-run, two-out rally by taking advantage of Mestepey’s wildness. Two walks and two hit-batsmen in the frame became his undoing, and Mestepey was finished after 2.2 innings of work.
De La Osa delivered the inning’s only RBI single, while the next two runners came in on a bases loaded walk and hit-batsman.
Meanwhile, Lewis set in and retired 11 of the next 12 batters. With two outs in the sixth, Patterson blasted a solo homer just over the right-center field wall to keep LSU within striking distance at 6-3.
It was only the second homer allowed by Lewis all season. As a staff, the Commodores had only surrendered 12 dingers on the season — the fewest total in the SEC.
The Tigers looked to have solved Lewis in the seventh, tagging the right-hander with a pair of doubles by Will Harris and Matt Liuzza. Liuzza brought in Harris with his two-bagger down the left field line, which ended Lewis’ day.
Reliever Steven Shao forced a pop out on pinch hitter Quinn Stewart and then fanned Jackson to end the frame.
A three-run seventh by Vanderbilt put the game away. De La Osa collected his third RBI of the day with a double to left off of reliever Jordan Faircloth. Pinch hitter Matt Zeller then delivered the clutch hit of the game, sending a two-run opposite field single to right.
Shao preserved the 9-4 score, allowing no runs on two hits in the final two frames to notch his second save of the season.
GAME 2: LSU 9, VANDERBILT 3
Right fielder Nick Stavinoha led LSU in a 12-hit attack, while Clay Dirks turned in another impressive performance on the mound, as the Tigers rebounded with a 9-3 victory in the second game of the doubleheader.
Dirks (9-1), named SEC Pitcher of the Week for his three-hit shutout at Arkansas last weekend, tossed 6.1 innings and limited Vanderbilt to three runs (one earned) on eight hits. The junior walked one and struck out five en route to his league leading ninth win of the season.
“Once again, I threw majority fastballs,” said Dirks. “The zone was really tight today, but that is one thing you just can’t control. My changeup worked the best it has for me all season. I just tried to get ahead out there.”
Ryan Mullins (5-1) took the loss after allowing four runs on five hits in just 2.2 innings of work.
Stavinoha went 4-for-5 with a homer, two runs and two RBI. Clay Harris drove in three runs, and Jordan Mayer added two hits.
“I have made a few adjustments with my hands and my grip, which has helped me stay on the ball longer,” said Stavinoha. “I got a few pitches up in the zone on the outside half (of the plate) that I could pull today.”
Mayer, who served as the designated hitter in Game 2, made only his third SEC start of the year and first overall since April 5 at Nicholls State.
LSU reversed the trend in the second game, jumping out to an immediate 3-0 lead in the first highlighted by a pair of RBI doubles from Mayer and Ryan Patterson. Will Harris brought in the third run on a sacrifice fly.
Mullins’ troubles continued into the third as Patterson and Stavinoha smashed back-to-back singles.
After 2.1 innings, the junior left-hander yielded to reliever Michael Wagner, who set down Will Harris and Quinn Stewart to leave the runners stranded.
Dirks cruised into the third inning having only allowed one hit, but the southpaw committed an error, which led to two unearned runs in the frame.
Dirks fielded a slow groundball hit by Antoan Richardson and fired over the head of Will Harris at first. Richardson would come into score two batters later on Alex Feinberg’s RBI single.
Warner Jones’ groundout cut the LSU lead in half at 4-2.
In the fourth, the Tigers took advantage of a pair of errors to earn a run back. Mayer rolled a routine groundball to the third baseman Feinberg, who fired wildly over to first allowing Dustin Weaver to score.
Clay Harris stretched the LSU lead to 7-2 in the seventh with a clutch one-out single to centerfield.
An insurance run provided by Stavinoha’s towering solo homer — his 12th of the season — capped the nine-run Tiger explosion.
Jason Determann and Edgar Ramirez combined to pitch the final 2.2 innings flawlessly without yielding a run.