BATON ROUGE, La. — The Gold team staged a late rally Sunday to defeat the Purple, 4-3, in the final game of the Purple-Gold World Series in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
The Gold swept the annual three-game game series, which marks the conclusion of LSU’s fall practice session. The Tigers open the 2015 season on February 13 when LSU plays host to Kansas.
“I think a lot of the guys we will count on in the spring played really well all fall,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “I thought the defense was outstanding by some guys, and some guys showed that they still need some work. Just like in any intrasquad situation, you’ll see good and poor stuff. What we have to do is continue to get better and get ready for February 13.”
Mainieri said the Purple-Gold World Series helped the Tigers’ newcomers become acclimated to a competitive college baseball environment.
“You put on the lights and get people in the stands and make it feel like a real game,” Mainieri explained. “It puts pressure on everyone. That can’t help but develop those players. We do what we can in creating an environment similar to what they’ll experience this spring.“
Down 3-0 in the bottom of Sunday’s sixth and final inning, the Gold team scored three runs to send the game into extra frames.
The Purple broke a 0-0 tie in the top of the fourth as Chris Chinea led off with a single, and Kade Scivicque followed with an RBI double to right field.
Ryan May saw relief work for the Gold in the top of the fifth inning. After retiring the first two batters, May allowed back-to-back singles to Mark and Chris Chinea.
With runners on the corners, Scivicque hit an RBI single to score Laird. Chinea then scored on an error by third baseman Grayson Byrd to give the Purple a 3-0 lead. Zac Person entered the game in relief of May and struck out Greg Deichmann to end the threat.
The Gold scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth as Alex Bregman and Conner Hale fueled the rally with clutch singles.
International tie-breaking rules were applied once the game went into extra innings. Runners were placed on second and third with one out to begin each half-inning. The Gold team made the most of the opportunity and Bregman hit a fly ball to left field to bring home the game-winning run.