BATON ROUGE — Lipscomb built a 6-0 lead after two innings Saturday and held off a late charge by LSU to hand the Tigers a 10-7 loss at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (7-6) dropped a non-conference series at home for the first time since February 2003 against Kansas. LSU had won 17 straight non-conference series in Alex Box Stadium.
The Bisons (11-4) pounded out 14 hits Saturday and have amassed 27 hits in two games.
LSU freshman right-hander T.J. Forrest will be making his first appearance of the season in Game 3 of the series at 1 p.m. Sunday. Live audio and streaming video are available to members of the Geaux Zone on www.LSUsports.net.
LSU tied a season-high with three homers Saturday with blasts from pinch hitter Ryan Schimpf, catcher Sean Ochinko and third baseman J.T. Wise.
Lipscomb catcher Caleb Joseph produced two, two-run doubles and finished with four RBI in leading the Bisons’ offense.
LSU senior left-hander Clay Dirks (1-1) was charged with the loss. Dirks was touched for six runs on six hits in 1.2 innings of work. He walked three and struck out one before leaving with two outs in the second inning.
Lipscomb jumped out to a 6-0 lead against Dirks, as the uprising was highlighted by a pair of two-run doubles from Joseph in the first and second frames.
“We dug ourselves a big hole,” said LSU head coach Paul Mainieri. “You’d expect that you wouldn’t fall behind 6-0 in less than two innings right out of the gate.”
LSU cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the second on a three-run homer by Ochinko into the left field bleachers. For Ochinko, it was his second blast of the season.
“Ochinko gave us a big lift,” said Mainieri. “His three-run homer got us right back in the game.”
However, the Bisons pushed across two more runs in the third and extended the advantage to 8-3 against freshman reliever Matt Jackson. Left fielder Allen Bolden and right fielder Shane Simpkins each had RBI singles.
Jackson settled down and kept the Tigers within striking distance with scoreless frames over the next four innings. Wise made it an 8-5 contest when he smashed an opposite field two-run homer — his first of the season — over the right field wall in the sixth.
“I thought Matt Jackson was absolutely outstanding,” said Mainieri. “He threw strikes and did a good job for us. He had a couple of tough breaks and gave up a couple of runs.”
LSU pulled to within a run when Schimpf, pinch hitting for first baseman Buzzy Haydel, unloaded a solo shot over the right field wall for his first career homer. Left fielder Blake Dean added an RBI sacrifice fly that brought home centerfielder Jared Mitchell, who reached on a single.
Lipscomb answered with a run in the eighth inning. Centerfielder Casey Bond was awarded first base after it was ruled he was hit by a pitch. He took second on a sacrifice and then scored after two consecutive wild pitches from Jackson.
The Bisons produced another insurance run in the ninth when third baseman Branden Cadavid singled off of reliever Paul Bertuccini.
Closer Taylor Merry held the Tigers scoreless in the final two innings en route to his fourth save. He silenced an LSU comeback in the ninth by retiring the heart of the LSU order — Mitchell, Jackson and Dean — after the Tigers put their first two runners on.
“You get your first two guys on, and you have the wind blowing out to right,” said Mainieri. “You have the top of your order up. You have to feel good about your chances. We just didn’t have quality at-bats at the end of the ninth inning. We’re just not playing good baseball right now. We just need to get better.”
Lipscomb 10, LSU 7 (Mar 03, 2007 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Lipscomb………… 242 000 011 – 10 14 2 (11-4)
LSU………………… 030 002 200 – 7 8 1 (7-6)
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Pitchers: Lipscomb – BROTHERS, Rex; WILLIAMS, Charles(7); MERRY, Taylor(8).
LSU – Clay Dirks; Matt Jackson(2); Paul Bertuccini(9); Ryan Byrd(9).
Win-BROTHERS, Rex(3-1) Save-MERRY, Taylor(4) Loss-Clay Dirks(1-1) T-3:04 A-7231
HR LSU – Ryan Schimpf (1); Sean Ochinko (2); J.T. Wise (1).
Actual attendance: 2,809