LSU wins game two over Vanderbilt, 3-2
Alex Lange and Hunter Newman combined on a five-hitter as LSU defeated Vanderbilt 3-2 in a Southeastern Conference game at The Box on Friday night.
HOW THEY SCORED
Vanderbilt first inning – Ro Coleman hit a leadoff home run over the rightfield fence. VANDERBILT 1, LSU 0
LSU second inning – With two out, Chris Reid singled and advanced to second when rightfielder Jeren Kendall misplayed the ball. Michael Papierski walked. Reid scored on a single by Cole Freeman. Papierski moved to third and Freeman went to second on the throw to the plate. Papierski and Freeman scored on a single by Antoine Duplantis. LSU 3, VANDERBILT 1
Vanderbilt sixth inning – With one out, Bryan Reynolds hit a home run over the rightfield fence. LSU 3, VANDERBILT 2
LSU MISSED SCORING OPPORTUNITIES
Fourth inning – With two out, Freeman singled and stole second. Duplantis struck out.
Fifth inning – With one out, Greg Deichmann reached safely on an error by second baseman Ethan Paul. Deichmann went to second on a ground out to the pitcher by Beau Jordan. After Kramer Robertson walked, Brody Wofford grounded out to the pitcher.
Sixth inning – Reid walked and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Papierski. Freeman reached safely on an error by Paul. Reid was picked off third base by catcher Jason Delay. Freeman was picked off first base by pitcher Kyle Wright.
Seventh inning – Duplantis singled and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Fraley. After Deichmann was hit by a pitch, Beau Jordan flied out to the center fielder. After Robertson was hit by a pitch, Wofford struck out.
Eighth inning – Reid and Papierski singled. Freeman singled, but Reid was thrown out at the plate by the centerfielder Reynolds. Duplantis and Fraley struck out.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
After limiting the damage to one run in a 39-pitch first inning, Lange settled down and turned in his best performance of the season. Lange allowed a leadoff homer to Coleman. He also issued walks to Reynolds and Delay. Lange ended the inning by getting Alonzo Jones to pop out to the shortstop Robertson. Lange would not allow another base runner until Tyler Campbell singled with two out in the fifth. He set down 12 batters in a row between the walk to Delay and the single by Campbell. Lange gave up a homer to Reynolds with one out in the sixth. He left the game after issuing a one-out walk to Will Toffey in the seventh. Lange, who threw 118 pitches, gave up three hits with three walks and nine strikeouts. He picked up his third victory of the season.
Lange’s comments: “I had a tough battle with Ro Coleman to begin the game. Then, it got away from me and I started rushing. After the first inning, it was like Omaha last year (Lange gave up three first-inning runs to Fullerton State and allowed no more runs). It would be easy to lay down and quit. It was a rough first inning. But, I didn’t quit and the team picked me up. Vanderbilt laid off my curve ball. I executed some changeups in good counts and then I threw some good curve balls.”
ABOUT THE HITTERS
Three players accounted for seven of LSU’s ten hits – Freeman (3-for-4), Reid (2-for-3) and Duplantis (2-for-5). Freeman drove in a run with a single in the second. Duplantis followed with a two-run single. . .Three Tigers starters went hitless – Fraley (0-for-4), Beau Jordan (0-for-4) and Wofford (0-for-4). . .LSU stranded 11 runners on base – five in scoring position. The Tigers were 3-for-11 with runners in scoring positions. Freeman had a second hit with a runner at second, but Reid was thrown out at the plate. Duplantis, Wofford and Fraley were all 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position.
ABOUT THE PITCHERS
Newman was spectacular in recording his first save of the season. He worked 2.2 innings and gave up two hits – a two-out double by Reynolds in the eighth and a one-out single by pinch-hitter Walker Grisanti in the ninth. Newman struck out Paul to end the eighth. In the ninth, Newman retired Toffey on a ground ball to the second baseman Freeman and struck out pinch-hitter Karl Ellison. Newman got six of his eight out by strikeouts. The six strikeouts were a career-high.
NOTES
There was one change in the starting lineup with Wofford replacing Jordan Romero as the designated hitter. . .Reid and Duplantis extended their hitting streaks to five games with singles in LSU’s three-run second. Robertson now has a four-game hitting streak after picking up a single in the third. Beau Jordan’s hitting streak was stopped at four games. . .LSU had three runners thrown out on the bases. Reid was picked off third by the catcher Delay in the sixth. Moments later, Freeman was picked off first base by the pitcher Wright. Reid was thrown out by the centerfielder Reynolds as he tried to score on Freeman’s single in the eighth. . .The Tigers did not commit an error, while the Commodores were guilty of three errors. Vanderbilt has made seven errors in the first two games of the series. . .Wright allowed three runs and seven hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in seven innings. Ben Bowden gave three singles in the eighth, but didn’t yield a run thanks to the throw by Reynolds. . .The Commodores had only five hits – two by Reynolds. . .Vanderbilt struck out 15 times. Every starter except Coleman and Toffey struck out at least once. Both Kendall and Paul struck out three times. . .LSU has clinched the series win – its first against Vanderbilt since 2005. The Tigers had lost six straight regular-season series against the Commodores – four with Paul Mainieri as coach. . .The victory was No. 1,300 for Mainieri as a Division I coach. He is just the seventh active Division I coach with 1,300 victories. He is the 16th coach all-time to reach 1,300 Division I wins. . .LSU is 21-9 overall, 6-5 in the SEC. The Tigers are one-half game behind Mississippi State in the SEC West. Vanderbilt is 24-7 overall, 6-5 in the SEC. The Commodores are 2½ games behind Florida and South Carolina in the SEC East. . .The paid attendance was 11,146. The actual crowd was about 7,900.
FROM THE LOCKER ROOM
Coach Paul Mainieri’s comments: “This game reminded me of a game Aaron Nola pitched in the regionals against Sam Houston State. He gave up five runs in the first inning and threw 42 pitches. I told Nola that he was going to shut them out the rest of the way. That’s what Lange did tonight. I told him he had to shut them down for seven innings. He almost gave us seven. He found a way to get the job done. We got a couple of clutch hits. It could have been a little easier, but we had some base running mistakes. What a great performance by Hunter Newman. He had ice in his veins. He made all the big pitches at the end. I was not going to take him out in the ninth. I went out there to pump him up and I told him about the pinch-hitter (Ellison).”
UP NEXT
LSU will play host to Vanderbilt in the series finale at The Box on Saturday. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. Central. John Valek (5-1) will be the starting pitcher for the Tigers. The LSU-Vanderbilt game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.