BATON ROUGE, La. – A solo home run by second baseman Kramer Robertson and back-to-back hits by catcher Michael Papierski and third baseman Chris Reid gave the Purple team a 3-2 edge over the Gold to sweep the series Monday night in Game 3 of the LSU Baseball Purple-Gold World Series at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
The Purple swept the series, outscoring the Gold 15-8 over the last three fall contests, concluding the six-week practice period. The Tigers return to action Friday, Feb. 19, against Cincinnati for the 2016 season opener.
“I thought we got as much out of fall practice as we ever have,” said LSU head coach Paul Mainieri. “Now, we begin the big push as we get ready for the spring season. I couldn’t be more pleased with where we are right now.”
With the Purple trailing 2-1 in the top of the fourth inning of the six-inning contest, Papierski doubled down the left field line, which scored left fielder Beau Jordan, and Reid followed with a single to left field to score Papierski to give Purple the 3-2 edge.
Purple starter Alex Lange fired three innings, surrendering two runs on two hits, striking out three. Parker Bugg earned his second save of the series, recording one strikeout in the bottom of the sixth.
The Purple grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the third against Gold starter Jared Poche’ as Robertson launched his second home run of the series.
The Gold took the 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third when right fielder Antoine Duplantis launched a two-run double to right field.
Poche’ tossed three innings, giving up one run on two hits, striking out three before Jesse Stallings entered the game in the top of the fourth, surrendering two runs on two hits.
“Even though one team swept the series, I thought both teams played extremely well,” Mainieri said. “There were a lot of very positive things that happened out here this fall.”