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LSU breezes past Utah Valley State, 7-1

Greg Deichmann and Jake Fraley hit two-run homers and Jared Poche allowed one run in six innings as LSU defeated Utah Valley State 7-1 in a first-round game of the Baton Rouge Regional tournament at The Box on Friday night.

Greg Deichmann
Greg Deichmann

HOW THEY SCORED

LSU first inning – Antoine Duplantis walked and Fraley hit a two-run homer over the rightfield fence. LSU 2, UTAH VALLEY STATE 0

Utah Valley State second inning – Mark Krueger singled. After Spencer Gothberg and Stone Ramsey struck out, Krueger moved to second on a wild pitch by Poche. Krueger scored on a double by Justin Erlandson. LSU 2, UTAH VALLEY STATE 1

LSU second inning – Beau Jordan walked. Deichmann struck out and Beau Jordan stole second base. After Michael Papierski grounded out to the third baseman, Beau Jordan scored on a single by Cole Freeman. LSU 3, UTAH VALLEY STATE 1

LSU third inning – With one out, Kramer Robertson doubled and went to third on a wild pitch by Danny Beddes. After Chris Reid flied out to the leftfielder, Bryce Jordan and Beau Jordan walked to load the bases. Robertson scored on a single by Deichmann. LSU 4, UTAH VALLEY STATE 1

LSU fifth inning – Robertson doubled and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Reid. Robertson scored on a single by Bryce Jordan. LSU 5, UTAH VALLEY STATE 1

LSU seventh inning – With one out, Beau Jordan singled and Deichmann hit a home run over the leftfield fence. LSU 7, UTAH VALLEY STATE 1

LSU MISSED SCORING OPPORTUNITIES

Fourth inning – With two out, Duplantis singled after shortstop Greyson Bogden dropped his foul pop up. Duplantis went to second on a balk by Jake Mayer. Fraley flied out to the centerfielder.

Sixth inning – Papierski doubled and went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Freeman. After Duplantis flied out to the centerfielder, Fraley walked. After Fraley stole second, Robertson was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Reid flied out to the leftfielder.

Eighth inning – With two out, pinch-hitter Jordan Romero and Reid singled. Bryce Jordan walked to load the bases. Brennan Breaux grounded out to the third baseman.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Deichmann had two run-scoring hits for LSU. Deichmann had a two-out, bases-loaded single in the third. Robertson scored, but Bryce Jordan was thrown out at the plate. Deichmann hit an opposite-field two-run homer in the seventh. The home run was the eighth of the year for Deichmann, who went 2-for-4. Deichmann had one hits in 13 official at-bats coming into Friday’s game.

ABOUT THE HITTERS

Every starter in the LSU lineup had a hit. Deichmann (2-for-4) and Robertson (2-for-3) were the only players with more than one hit. Both of Robertson’s hits were doubles. It was just the second time in Robertson’s career that he had two doubles in a game. . .Fraley’s home run was his fourth of the season. . .LSU stranded 11 runners – seven in scoring position. The Tigers were 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Freeman, Deichmann and Bryce Jordan had run-producing hits with runners in scoring position.

ABOUT THE PITCHERS

Poche won his eighth game of the year. He became the first pitcher in LSU history to win eight games in three consecutive seasons. Poche won nine game in each of the two previous years. Poche gave up five hits and one run with no walks and eight strikeouts. The eight strikeouts matched Poche’s career-high. Poche’s key inning was the fourth. With LSU on top 4-1, Utah Valley put runners on second and third with no one out. Poche proceeded to strike out the next three batters – Gothberg, Ramsey and Erlandson. The Wolverines were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position against Poche. . .The LSU bullpen permitted just one base runner in the last three innings. Jake Latz threw a perfect seventh with two strikeouts. Russell Reynolds had a 1-2-3 eighth. John Valek gave up one hit and struck out two in the ninth. . .Tigers pitchers walked none and struck out 12.

NOTES

Papierski was the starting catcher with Bryce Jordan the designated hitter. . .Robertson extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a third-inning double. Freeman extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a second-inning RB single. Duplantis extended his hitting streak to five games with a single in the fourth inning. Beau Jordan extended his hitting streak to five games with an infield hit in the seventh. . .Fraley’s stolen base in the sixth was No. 27 for the year and No. 58 for his career. Fraley is tied with Jeff Reboulet for the seventh most steals in LSU history. . .Robertson committed LSU’s one error. . .Utah Valley starting pitcher Danny Beddes gave up four runs and three hits in three innings. Three Wolverines relief pitchers yielded three runs and eight hits over five innings. . .Craig Brinkerhoff and Krueger each had two of Utah Valley’s six hits. . .LSU is 43-18, while Utah Valley is 37-22. . .The start of the LSU-Utah Valley game was delayed 6½ hours by rain. . .The paid attendance was 9,770. . .The Rice-SLU game was postponed and rescheduled for 9 a.m. on Saturday. Utah Valley will play the Rice-SLU loser at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM

Coach Paul Mainieri’s comments: “This was a very solid performance by our team in every way. It was a good, workmanlike performance for our first game of the regional. This win was very similar to our win over Mississippi State (6-2) in the SEC tournament.”

UP NEXT

LSU will play either Rice or SLU in a winners’ bracket game of the Baton Rouge Regional tournament at The Box on Saturday at 7 p.m. Central. Rice and SLU will play Saturday morning. Alex Lange (7-3) will be the starting pitcher for the Tigers. The LSU-Rice/SLU game will be broadcast on the ESPN Digital Network.

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