BATON ROUGE, La. – Down 5-2 through six innings, top-ranked LSU scored seven unanswered runs in the seventh and eighth innings to defeat No. 2 Texas A&M, 9-6, Friday night in front of over 12,000 fans at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
LSU, which posted a 4-3 win in Game 1 of the series on Thursday night, improved to 37-6 and 14-5 in the SEC, while Texas A&M dropped to 36-7 overall and 12-7 in league play.
The teams conclude the series at 1 p.m. CT Saturday in a game that will be televised by ESPN. Saturday’s game may be heard on affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network, and live audio and stats will be available at www.LSUsports.net.
“It was a another tremendous night for college baseball,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “Two outstanding teams performing in front of a huge crowd in an electric atmosphere. I’m extremely proud of our guys for the effort in making a great comeback. Their starting pitcher was excellent – he had a terrific curveball and he was throwing his fastball at 93-94 mph. Fortunately, we finally started to get to him in the seventh inning as his pitch count went up, and we had some tremendous at-bats.
The Tigers went into the seventh inning with a three-run deficit and Aggie starting pitcher Ryan Hendrix throwing his best stuff. That changed in the bottom half of the inning as LSU scored four runs to take the lead.
First baseman Chris Chinea and left fielder Jake Fraley led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Second baseman Jared Foster singled through the left side to score Chinea and get Fraley to third. Designated hitter Chris Sciambra followed with a perfectly placed safety squeeze to score Fraley.
Relief pitcher Mark Ecker entered the game with one out and Alex Bregman at the plate. Bregman and Ecker battled to a 3-2 count and the shortstop doubled down the left-field line to push LSU to a 6-5 lead.
LSU didn’t let up in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Tigers added three more runs. Stevenson hit a one-out single up the middle and flew from first to home on a double to left field by Chinea. The Aggies brought in reliever Blake Kopetsky, but LSU pushed two more runs across the plate on a triple by Fraley and a groundout by Foster.
LSU reliever Russell Reynolds improved to 4-0 on the year after entering the game in the sixth inning and allowing just two hits in 1.2 innings of work. Sophomore Hunter Newman earned his third save in his last three appearances after working two innings and allowing one run with no walks and one strikeout.
LSU starter Alex Lange worked 5.1 innings and was charged with five runs – four earned – on eight hits with five walks and seven strikeouts.
Hendrix (3-1) was charged with the loss as he surrendered six runs on 10 hits in 6.1 innings with no walks and nine strikeouts.
Texas A&M got on the board first with a one-out RBI single up the middle by left fielder Logan Taylor.
Third baseman Conner Hale responded for LSU in the bottom of the first with a two-out RBI single through the right side to score Bregman.
LSU grabbed a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second on a single up the middle by Fraley that scored Stevenson.
The Aggies plated a run each in the third and fourth innings. Third baseman Ronnie Gideon singled up the middle to score Taylor in the third, and shortstop Blake Allemand scored centerfielder J.B. Moss with a double down the right field line in the fourth
Right fielder Nick Banks pushed the Texas A&M lead to 5-2 in the top of the sixth inning with a two-RBI single up the middle.