RallyPossum rolls as LSU finishes Florida at 1:48 a.m. 5-3
Pinch-hitter Jordan Romero and Cole Freeman delivered two-out, run-scoring singles in the 14th inning to give LSU a 5-3 victory against Florida in an opening-round game of the Southeastern Conference tournament at Hoover (Ala.) Metropolitan Stadium on Wednesday night.
HOW THEY SCORED
Florida first inning – With one out, Jonathan India doubled. India scored on JJ Schwarz’ double. Schwarz scored on a triple by Buddy Reed. FLORIDA 2, LSU 0
LSU eighth inning – With one out, Antoine Duplantis singled. Duplantis advanced to third on a single by Jake Fraley. Duplantis scored and Fraley moved to third on a throwing error by catcher Mike Rivera on the play. Fraley beat the throw to the plate to score on Kramer Robertson’s ground ball to the third baseman. Robertson stole second and went to third on a wild pitch by Shaun Anderson. Robertson scored on a single by Bryce Jordan. LSU 3, FLORIDA 2
Florida ninth inning – Reed doubled and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Rivera. After Nelson Maldonado struck out, Reed scored on a single by Deacon Liput. LSU 3, FLORIDA 3
LSU 14th inning – Bryce Jordan reached on an error by shortstop Dalton Guthrie. Chris Reid forced Bryce Jordan at second on a ground ball to the second baseman. Brennan Breaux walked. After Greg Deichmann struck out, Reid scored on a single by Romero. Breaux scored on a single by Freeman. LSU 5, FLORIDA 3
LSU MISSED SCORING OPPORTUNITIES
Fourth inning – With one out, Robertson singled. Robertson moved to second on a fly out to the centerfielder by Bryce Jordan. Reid grounded out to the pitcher.
Sixth inning – With two out, Fraley singled and stole second base. Robertson struck out.
Seventh inning – With one out, Reid walked and Beau Jordan singled. Deichmann struck out and Michael Papierski grounded out to the second baseman.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Romero, who was benched after a poor game one day earlier against Tennessee, came through with the single to break a 3-3 tie in the 14th. Romero ended a 0-for-17 slump with his single in the 14th.
Romero’s comments: “Throughout season, we had ups and downs. It taught us a lot. Baseball can be tough sometimes. The past couple of weeks have been rough for me. For three hours, it was going through my head that I was going to do the job when my name was called.”
ABOUT THE HITTERS
Three LSU players had multiple-hit games – Beau Jordan (2-for-4), Fraley (2-for-5) and Duplantis (2-for-7). . .The only starters without a hit were Reid (0-for-5) and Deichmann (0-for-6). . .The Tigers stranded eight runners – four in scoring position. LSU was 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
ABOUT THE PITCHERS
Alex Lange showed a tremendous amount of grit as he held Florida scoreless for six innings after a rocky first. With one out in the opening inning, Lange gave up three consecutive extra base hits which produced two runs. He then issued two walks which loaded the bases. Lange prevented further scoring by striking out Liput and Jeremy Vasquez. Lange allowed just one batter to get past first base during the next six innings. Rivera doubled with two out in the third. Lange stranded Rivera at second base by striking out Maldonado. Lange gave up five hits, walked three and struck out 11. . .Hunter Newman was one out away from protecting a one-run lead. A pop fly by Reed went off the glove of leftfielder Brennan Breaux. The ball was called foul on the field, but it was reversed through replay. The umpires awarded Reed second base. With two outs, Liput tied the score with a single to rightfield. . .Jesse Stallings pitched around a leadoff walk in the tenth. He ended the inning by getting India to pop out to the shortstop Robertson with a runner at second base. Stallings then escaped a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the 11th. Maldodano popped out to the second baseman Freeman. Liput lined out to the third baseman Reid, who doubled off pinch-runner Blake Reese at third base. Stallings ended both the 12th and 13th innings with the winning run in scoring position. Pinch-hitter Mike Fahrman popped out to Robertson for the third out in the 12th and Christian Hicks flied out to Breaux to end the 13th. Stallings didn’t let a runner get into scoring position in the 14th. In five innings, Stallings allowed two hits, walked five – one intentional – and struck out none.
NOTES
Papierski replaced Jordan Romero in the lineup at catcher. Bryce Jordan was the designated hitter and hit fourth in the batting order. . .Robertson extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single in the fourth. Freeman extended his hitting streak to nine games with his 14th-ininng single. . .Florida starting pitcher A.J. Puk gave up two runs and six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts in 7.1 innings. Gators closer Shaun Anderson allowed the single by Bryce Jordan which gave LSU a 3-2 lead in the eighth. Dane Dunning allowed the first run in the 14th inning. Those two runs were unearned due to the error by Guthrie at shortstop. . .Reed and Liput each had two hits for Florida. . .The game lasted five hours and seven minutes – the longest postseason game in LSU history. Also, no Tigers postseason game had ever gone past 13 innings. . .LSU is 41-17, while Florida is 44-12.
UP NEXT
LSU will play Mississippi State in a winners’ bracket game of the Southeastern Conference tournament at Hoover (Ala.) Metropolitan Stadium on Thursday. First pitch is set for 8 p.m. Central. The Bulldogs (40-14-1) beat Alabama 4-1 in a first-round game Wednesday evening. Jared Poche (6-4) will be the starting pitcher for the Tigers. The LSU-Alabama/Mississippi State game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
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