BATON ROUGE, La.— Second baseman Kramer Robertson drove in three runs, catcher Michael Papierski was 3-for-3 with an RBI and left fielder Beau Jordan doubled twice to lead the Purple team to a 7-3 win over the Gold Wednesday night in Game 1 of the LSU Baseball Purple-Gold World Series at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
The Purple leads the three-game series, 1-0, and the teams return to the field at 6:30 p.m. Thursday for Game 2. First pitch for Game 3 is Friday at 7 p.m., and admission to all games is free.
“I was very encouraged by a lot of what I saw tonight,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri after the six-inning contest. “We had some excellent at-bats, and we made all of the plays on defense. I thought the starting pitchers – Caleb Gilbert and John Valek III – both threw well, and we had some strong performances out of the bullpen.
“In these games, you look for little things that you feel are very positive, and I thought tonight’s game for six innings produced a lot of very positive moments.”
The Purple grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning against Gold starting pitcher Caleb Gilbert. Papierski and third baseman Chris Reid singled before shortstop Trey Dawson moved them to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Robertson drove the runners home with a two-run double to give the Purple the early advantage.
The Purple extended its lead to 3-0 in the third when Jordan doubled and scored on a double by Papierski.
The Gold tied the contest with a three-run third against Valek. An RBI single by third baseman Cole Freeman and a two-run triple by center fielder Antoine Duplantis highlighted the rally.
The Purple, however, erupted for four runs in the fifth inning against reliever Russell Reynolds. Robertson ripped an run-scoring double to score Reid and right fielder Bryce Laird, and Jordan added a two-run double to give the Purple a 7-3 lead.
Purple right-hander Hunter Newman earned the win in relief, working 2.1 shutout innings while limiting the Gold to no hits with one walk and one strikeout.
Right-hander Doug Norman worked the final 1.1 innings for the Purple, blanking the Gold on no hits with one walk and one strikeout.