BATON ROUGE — Auburn pitchers Taylor Thompson and Brett Butts scattered 10 hits and combined to shut out LSU as the Plainsment captured the series with a 7-0 victory on Saturday at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU (17-15-1, 3-7-1 SEC) lost its third straight game and was blanked at home in league play for the first time since 2004. Vanderbilt defeated LSU, 8-0, on May 16, 2004.
Auburn (23-11, 3-8) secured its first Southeastern Conference series since April of last season. The Tigers had lost seven straight league series entering the weekend.
LSU junior right-hander Jared Bradford (4-2, 2.94) will try to salvage the series finale at 1 p.m. Sunday against Auburn sophomore right-hander Justin Bristow (1-2, 5.48).
Live streaming video and audio of Game 3 are available to members of the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net.
Thompson (4-0) carried the momentum of Paul Burnside’s complete game effort on Friday night into Saturday, limiting LSU to six hits and no runs in six innings of work. He walked one and struck out five in notching his fourth win of the year.
Butts, who entered the contest with a 2.18 ERA, fired three scoreless innings of relief and allowed only four hits to register his fourth save of the season.
“It’s hard to win when you don’t score any runs,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “We are what we are hitting-wise. You fall behind by a couple of runs and it feels like you are behind by 20 because you just don’t have the firepower in your lineup. It’s frustrating.”
LSU sophomore Ryan Byrd (4-1) suffered the first loss of his career, allowing four runs on five hits in 4.1 innings of work. Byrd walked a season-high four and struck out none.
“He (Byrd) just couldn’t throw strikes today,” said Mainieri. “He really was fortunate when we took him out that he only had given up two runs because he was really laboring out there. Again, when you don’t score any runs it puts an awful lot of pressure on your pitcher.”
Centerfielder Jared Mitchell and catcher Sean Ochinko each went 2-for-4. Designated hitter Blake Dean extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a leadoff single in the fourth. Dean’s streak is the longest by a Tiger since Nick Stavinoha hit safely in 13 straight games in 2005.
Auburn was led offensively by second baseman Robert Brooks, who went 2-for-3 with a run and two RBI. Brooks gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the second with an RBI single off of Byrd.
Third baseman Josh Donaldson added a run-scoring double in the fourth, and Auburn padded the lead with three runs in the fifth. Byrd allowed a leadoff single to catcher Ryan Jenkins and walked centerfielder Bruce Edwards in the frame.
Mainieri then elected to go to reliever Nolan Cain. Cain intentionally walked Donaldson, but designated hitter Dustin Spruill delivered a two-out, bases loaded single to score Jenkins and Edwards. Right fielder Steven Waguespack allowed the ball to roll past him when attempting to make a play, which brought in Donaldson and cleared the bases.
Auburn carried a 5-0 lead into the top of the sixth when LSU was presented with its best chance of scoring. First baseman Chris Jackson singled with one out, and Ochinko provided a two-out single to left. Waguespack stranded a runner at third when he lined out to first base in foul territory.
Butts relieved Thompson to start the seventh and tossed the final three innings without allowing a run.
Auburn 7, LSU 0 (Apr 07, 2007 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Auburn………….. 010 130 020 – 7 10 1 (23-11, 3-8 SEC)
LSU……………… 000 000 000 – 0 10 3 (17-15-1, 3-7-1 SEC)
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Pitchers: Auburn – Taylor Thompson; Brett Butts(7).
LSU – Ryan Byrd; Nolan Cain(5); Louis Coleman(7); Shane Ardoin(9).
Win-Taylor Thompson(4-0) Save-Brett Butts(4) Loss-Ryan Byrd(4-1) T-2:43 A-7187