BATON ROUGE — The LSU Baseball “Purple-Gold World Series” began Sunday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium, with the Gold team earning the Game 1 win, 6-3.
Led by rightfielder Cody Reine and catcher Kevin Farnsworth, who each homered early, the Gold team held a 3-0 lead through the five innings of the seven-inning contest.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Purple team got on the board with a two-run home run by shortstop Michael Hollander. First baseman Matt Clark tied the game at 3-3 with a solo homer to right field in the sixth.
Right-hander Louis Coleman entered the game for the Purple team in the top of the seventh, when he walked two batters. Coleman was replaced by left-hander Shane Ardoin, who hit three straight batters and gave up an RBI single to Matt Gaudet, giving the Gold a 6-3 advantage. Coleman was charged with the loss.
“I thought that for the first six innings, it was a very crisply played game,” said head coach Paul Mainieri. “We got a little sloppy in the top of the seventh, but otherwise I thought it was a good ball game.”
LSU volunteer coach Javi Sanchez, serving as the manager of the Gold team, was pleased with his squad’s victory.
“I think our team came in here with a plan,” Sanchez said of the Gold team, which collected nine hits. “They established an identity early. When things got carried away for the Purple team late, our guys were taking pitches and being tough outs.”
Right-hander Jared Bradford started on the mound for the Gold team, pitching three innings of shutout ball while recording two strikeouts.
“It was one of those performances that was not the best, but at the same time we learned how to win and compete,” said Bradford.
Ryan Byrd, the winning pitcher for the Gold, pitched four innings in relief of Bradford. He gave up only four hits and struck out two.
The second game of the “Purple-Gold World Series” will start at 3 p.m. Monday in Alex Box Stadium. Game 3 is set for Tuesday at 3 p.m.
The series concludes LSU’s five-week fall practice session, which began on Sept. 15. The Tigers open the 2008 regular season Feb. 22 versus Indiana in Alex Box Stadium.