BATON ROUGE — Junior right-hander Edgar Ramirez held No. 11 Arkansas to a run in four-plus innings of relief Sunday, while senior Will Harris collected two hits and qualified for his first career save as LSU defeated the Razorbacks, 7-5, in the rubber game at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (29-17, 8-13 SEC) have now won four out of their last five series against Arkansas, who fell to 31-14 overall and 11-10 in league play with three series left in the regular season.
LSU travels to Auburn next weekend for a three-game series beginning at 7 p.m. Friday from Plainsman Park.
Ramirez (2-0) finished one out shy of his career high Sunday, tossing 4.1 innings in relief of starter Daniel Forrer. The right-hander limited the Hogs to a run on four hits, walked three and struck out a career-high six batters.
“I was just glad to be able to go out there and help the team,” said Ramirez. “I was able to get ahead of hitters, being able to throw my curve ball for strikes on first pitches.”
Ramirez’ gutsy outing came when LSU needed help from a pitching staff that had at least three hurlers sidelined with injuries this weekend.
“That is exactly what it was — a gutsy performance,” said LSU coach Smoke Laval. “A guy coming in not having the year he expected, pitches when we most needed it. It all worked out.”
Shortstop Michael Hollander provided an insurance RBI on a single in the eighth, and catcher Matt Liuzza broke a 5-5 tie in the seventh with an RBI single. Centerfielder Jarred Bogany added two more hits and finished the series with a team-high .348 batting average.
Harris, playing third base at the time, ignited a three-run third inning with a leadoff single and took second on a wild pitch. Left fielder Bruce Sprowl then moved Harris to third on a sacrifice bunt — LSU’s school-record 36th of the season.
Hollander put the Tigers on the board when he extended his hitting streak to eight games with an RBI single. Right fielder Quinn Stewart then launched his 20th homer of the season, a two-out, two-run shot just over the left field wall to give LSU a 3-0 lead. The blast tied Stewart with Kellen Kulbacki of James Madison for the national lead.
However, the lead didn’t last for long as the Hogs responded with four runs in the top of the fourth inning.
Left fielder Jake Dugger and second baseman James Ewing singled, and Forrer plunked first baseman Danny Hamblin on an 0-2 pitch to load the bases. Forrer then got designated hitter Wayne Hrozek to pop out to shallow left. Stewart, in attempt to get the runner tagging from third, fired wildly from right field into the Arkansas dugout.
Dugger and Ewing scored, and Hamblin took third. After another hit batsman, Forrer exited the game and Ramirez inherited a two-out jam with a pair of runners in scoring position.
Third baseman Blake Parker, the eighth man in the order, gave the Hogs the lead with a two-run single through the middle.
LSU designated hitter Stephen Waguespack provided one of his three hits on the day to lead off the fourth and then took second when centerfielder Craig Gentry misplayed the ball. First baseman Jordan Mayer tied the game at 4-4 with an opposite field single down the right field line.
Sprowl reached on an error in the sixth — one of three errors by Arkansas — that allowed Waguespack to score. The Hogs answered the run in the top of the seventh, but the Tigers took the lead for good in their half of the frame on a clutch single from Liuzza.
Hollander provided a critical insurance run with a single in the eighth off Brett Bollman, Arkansas’ fourth pitcher of the game.
Ramirez allowed a leadoff walk to start the ninth, but Harris was brilliant in only his fifth outing of the season. The senior fanned Gentry and Ewing and got the Hogs’ top home run hitter, Danny Hamblin, to ground out to end the game.
Bollman (0-3) took the loss, surrendering two runs (one earned) on four hits in 1.2 innings of relief.
LSU 7, Arkansas 5 (Apr 30, 2006 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Arkansas………… 000 400 100 – 5 7 3 (31-14, 11-10 SEC)
LSU………………. 003 101 11X – 7 13 1 (29-17, 8-13 SEC)
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Pitchers: Arkansas – Seibert; Boyce(3); McLelland(4); Bollman(7); Rhoads(8). LSU – Forrer; Ramirez(4); Harris, W.(9).
Win-Ramirez(2-0) Save-Harris, W.(1) Loss-Bollman(0-3) T-3:08 A-7348
HR LSU – Stewart (20)
Actual attendance: 2,473
Boyce faced 3 batters in the 4th.
Ramirez faced 1 batter in the 9th.