BATON ROUGE — Right fielder Quinn Stewart tied a school record with three homers, and eighth-ranked LSU scored eight runs in the middle innings to pull away from Stetson en route to an 11-7 victory Saturday at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (16-2) secured their 11th straight series win, dating back to 2005. Stetson dropped to 7-10 on the season. LSU goes for its third sweep this season at 1 p.m. Sunday in the finale. Junior left-hander Daniel Forrer (1-0, 4.43) is slated to start on the mound for the Tigers.
Sunday’s game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network (WDGL 98.1 FM in Baton Rogue).
Live audio and video are available to members of the Geaux Zone powered by USAgencies on www.LSUsports.net.
On Saturday, the teams combined for seven homers aided by a stiff wind blowing out to centerfield. Three of LSU’s five homers came from Stewart, who became the first LSU player to hit three in a game since Zeph Zinsman did it against Duquesne on Feb. 23, 2001.
“You can’t really judge pitching on a day like today because anything can get out of the park,” said head coach Smoke Laval. “If you swing the bat hard enough, good things will happen. That was our game plan today, to get quality swings that we didn’t have last time.”
Stewart’s three-homer game became the 10th in school history. He joins a prestigious list of former players, including Brandon Larson, Eddy Furniss and Brad Cresse.
“You come to the ballpark and with the wind blowing like it is, you joke around to see how far you can hit it in batting practice” said Stewart, who finished with a career-high six RBI. “I was fortunate to get the ball in the air today and it went out. I saw the ball really well. I think I have been trying to do a little too much the last few games.”
All five of the Tigers’ blasts proved to be significant as junior right-hander Derik Olvey struggled in his outing. Olvey entered the game with a stellar 0.30 ERA, having allowed only one run in 30.1 innings.
The transfer from Notre Dame surrendered his first run in 19.2 innings when the Hatters’ Chris Johnson drove a two-out double to the wall in the first. First baseman Nick Palmisano followed with an RBI triple, and one inning later, designated hitter Kevin Mierzwinski crushed a solo homer. It was the first dinger surrendered by Olvey this season.
LSU cut into the 3-0 deficit with back-to-back homers by Stewart and designated hitter Jordan Mayer in the second, but Stetson answered with a two-run frame of their own in the third on Palmisano’s two-run clout over the centerfield wall.
Olvey was chased in the fourth after being tagged for six runs in 3.1 innings of work.
The Tigers faced their largest deficit of the season, trailing 6-2 entering the bottom of the fourth inning. Second baseman Nick Pontiff’s first career homer — a two-run shot ? highlighted a three-run fourth that narrowed the deficit to 6-5.
Right-hander Nolan Cain, in relief of Olvey, kept the Hatters at bay and allowed the Tigers to stay within striking distance.
Stewart tied the game with a solo homer to start the fifth off reliever Will Romanowicz, and then accounted for his final three-run blast as part of a four-run sixth that gave LSU a comfortable 10-6 advantage.
Two consecutive singles by LSU in the eighth ensured Stewart of another at-bat, as he looked to become only the second player in SEC history to connect for four homers in a game. After first baseman Steven Waguespack reached on walk, Stewart came to the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out.
Mark Gentry, the Hatters’ fourth pitcher of the game, was able to retire to Stewart on a routine fly ball to right field. However, shortstop Michael Hollander came in to score on the sacrifice fly that gave Stewart his sixth RBI, the most by an LSU player since Mayer had six versus Nicholls State on Feb. 12, 2005.
Cain (2-0) recorded three scoreless innings to pick up the win.
Freshman Darryl Shaffer earned his first career save, giving up a run on two hits over the final 2.1 innings.
Romanowicz (0-2) was saddled with the loss, surrendering four runs in two innings of relief.
LSU 11, Stetson 7 (Mar 11, 2006 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Stetson…………. 212 100 001 – 7 12 2 (7-10)
LSU……………… 020 314 01X – 11 14 3 (16-2)
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Pitchers: Stetson – KLUBER; ROMANOWICZ(5); SCHROEDER(8); GENTRY(8). LSU – Olvey; Cain(4); Shaffer(7).
Win-Cain(2-0) Save-Shaffer(1) Loss-ROMANOWICZ(0-2) T-3:06 A-7322
HR STETS – PALMISANO (2); MIERZWINSKI (1).
HR LSU – Stewart 3 (6); Mayer (2); Pontiff, N. (1).
Game notes:
Actual attendance: 2,942
SCHROEDER faced 3 batters in the 8th.