BATON ROUGE – Down 4-1, sixth-ranked LSU used a six-run eighth inning to defeat Alabama and take the final game of the opening weekend of Southeastern Conference play Sunday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
With the bases loaded after a walk and back-to-back singles, pinch-hitter Brody Wofford ripped a single up the middle off of reliever Kyle Cameron to score two runs and cut the game to 4-3.
Second baseman Cole Freeman was hit by a pitch to load the bases once again for the Tigers. Shortstop Kramer Robertson then singled to right field to plate two runs and give the Tigers a 5-4 lead. LSU added two more runs on a single through the left side by left fielder Beau Jordan to push the lead to 7-4.
LSU improved to 14-5 and 1-2 in conference play with the win. The Crimson Tide fell to 13-6 and 2-1 in conference.
Hoover, Alabama native Caleb Gilbert earned the win and improved to 2-1 on the season. Gilbert entered in the seventh and limited the Tide to just one run on three hits. The freshman struck out four in 2.1 innings of work.
“If you would have told me going into the weekend that we would win just one game, naturally I would have been disappointed,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “But, it certainly feels good to win this game. Starting 1-2 in the conference is much different than being 0-3 right now. Our players have displayed a resilient attitude throughout the season, and they were determined to get a win today.
“We had some great at-bats in the eighth inning. Brody Woffford came off the bench cold, took a couple of strikes and then lined a base hit. Kramer put the ball in play and gave us a chance to add two more runs, and Beau came through with another clutch base hit.”
LSU starting pitcher John Valek III turned in an outstanding effort, working six innings and limiting the Crimson Tide to two runs on seven hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.
“John pitched extremely well, and he really has been outstanding this entire season,” Mainieri said. “He gave us exactly what we needed to give us a chance to win.”
LSU returns to action at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Metairie, Louisiana for the Wally Pontiff Jr. Classic against UL-Lafayette. The game will be televised on Cox Sports Television. Fans can listen to the game on the LSU Sports Radio Network, including 98.1 in Baton Rouge.
Leftfielder Hunter Webb led off the game with an infield single. Designated hitter Cody Henry then hit a two-out single to center field to score Webb and give the Crimson Tide a 1-0 lead.
After another leadoff single for Alabama in the top of the third, right fielder Chandler Avant singled through the left side to plate Daniel Cucjen.
The Tigers cut into the Alabama lead in the fifth inning. Freeman reached on a fielding error by the third baseman and eventually scored on a single to third base by left fielder Antoine Duplantis.
Alabama added two more runs in the top of the seventh off the bat of right fielder Chandler Taylor. Taylor hit a two-run home run to right field off of LSU reliever Hunter Newman.
Down 7-4 in the top of the ninth, Alabama rallied to score one run. First baseman Cobie Vance ripped a two-out double to right field to score Avant. With the game-tying run at second, Gilbert struck out Georgie Salem to finish things off.
Duplantis extended his hitting streak to 19-straight games with the RBI single in the eighth. Duplantis has now hit safely in every game this season and has the third-best hitting streak by an LSU freshman over the past 20 seasons.
Kyle Cameron suffered the loss and dropped to 1-1 for the season. Cameron was charged with five runs on six hits in three innings.