Tigers defeat Arkansas in amazing finish, 10-9
Jake Fraley scored on a throwing error by first baseman Clark Eagan in the bottom of the tenth inning as LSU rallied from an eight-run deficit to defeat Arkansas 10-9 in a Southeastern Conference game at The Box on Saturday night.
HOW THEY SCORED
Arkansas first inning – With two out, Luke Bonfield walked and advanced to third on a single by Carson Shaddy, who moved to second on the throw to third base. Bonfield and Shaddy scored on a single by Jake Arledge. ARKANSAS 2, LSU 0
Arkansas second inning – Rick Nomura doubled and was thrown out at the plate by leftfielder Brody Wofford on Tucker Pennell’s single. Pennell went to second on the play at the plate. Pennell scored on Cody Scroggins’ single. Scroggins scored on a single by Eagan. ARKANSAS 4, LSU 0
LSU second inning – Bryce Jordan walked and Greg Deichmann singled. A bunt single by Cole Freeman loaded the bases. Antoine Duplantis forced Bryce Jordan at the plate on a ground ball to the first baseman. Deichmann scored on a walk to Fraley. ARKANSAS 4, LSU 1
Arkansas third inning – With one out, Nomura and Pennell singled. Nomura scored on a single by Scroggins. ARKANSAS 5, LSU 1
Arkansas fifth inning – With one out, Nomura doubled and went to third on a single by Pennell. Nomura scored on a throwing error to the plate by third baseman Chris Reid on Scroggins’ ground ball. Pennell advanced to third and Scroggins moved to second on the error. Pennell scored when Wofford missed Eagan’s fly ball. Eric Cole walked to load the bases. Scroggins scored on a walk to Bonfield. Eagan scored on a ground out to the first baseman. ARKANSAS 9, LSU 1
LSU fifth inning – Jordan Romero walked and advanced to third on a single by Reid. Wofford struck out and Bryce Jordan popped out to the third baseman. Romero scored on a single by Deichmann. Reid scored on a single by Freeman. ARKANSAS 9, LSU 3
LSU sixth inning – Fraley walked and Kramer Robertson doubled. Fraley scored on a sacrifice fly to the leftfielder by Romero. ARKANSAS 9, LSU 4
LSU seventh inning – Freeman walked and went to second on a ground out to the first baseman by Duplantis. Freeman scored when shortstop Michael Bernal made a throwing error on Fraley’s ground ball. ARKANSAS 9, LSU 5
LSU ninth inning – Duplantis and Fraley reached on errors by the third baseman Scroggins. Robertson singled to load the bases. After Romero struck out, Duplantis scored on an infield single by Reid. Fraley and Robertson scored on a double by Breaux. After Bryce Jordan was intentionally walked, Reid scored on a sacrifice fly to the centerfielder by Deichmann. ARKANSAS 9, LSU 9
LSU tenth inning – With one out, Fraley doubled. Robertson beat out a single to the second baseman. Fraley scored when the first baseman Eagan made a bad throw to third base. Eagan was trying to throw out Fraley, who had rounded the bag too much. LSU 10, ARKANSAS 9
LSU MISSED SCORING OPPORTUNITIES
First inning – Duplantis and Fraley walked. After Robertson struck out, Romero singled to load the bases. Duplantis was forced at the plate on a ground ball to the first baseman by Reid. Wofford pinch-hit and struck out.
Eighth inning – Reid and Brennan Breaux singled. Bryce Jordan, Deichmann and Freeman struck out.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Robertson got hit in the mouth on a throw from Fraley in the third inning. Robertson suffered a bad cut on his lip where his teeth penetrated it. He also cut his tongue. Despite all of the bleeding, Robertson remained in the game. He would get three hits, including a tenth-inning single which set up the winning run. Robertson also had a double in the sixth and a single in the ninth. Robertson, who struck out three times, went 3-for-7. His toughness set the tone for LSU’s comeback victory.
ABOUT THE HITTERS
Robertson was one of three LSU players with three hits. Breaux, who entered the game in the sixth inning after Wofford struck out for the third time, had two singles and a two-run double in the Tigers’ four-run ninth inning rally. Reid also had three hits, including a RBI single in the ninth. Both Deichmann and Freeman had two hits. Deichmann drove in two runs. . .LSU stranded 19 runners – ten in scoring position. The Tigers were 8-for-26 with runners in scoring position. However, just four of those eight hits drove in runs – singles by Deichmann and Freeman in the fifth, and a single by Reid and a two-run double by Breaux in the ninth.
ABOUT THE PITCHERS
Jared Poche had his fourth consecutive poor start. He lasted only 1.1 innings and gave up four runs and seven hits. After striking out the first two batters, eight of the next nine Arkansas hitters reached base. Poche would have allowed more runs except Wofford threw a runner out at the plate trying to score on a single in the second inning. In his last four outings, Poche has a 9.87 ERA. He had given up 20 runs and 32 hits in 17.1 innings. . .Doug Norman worked 3.2 innings in relief and would have left with a good body of work were it not for errors by Reid and Wofford which enabled the Razorbacks to score four unearned runs in the fifth. Norman gave up five runs and five hits with four walks and three strikeouts. . .Austin Bain threw two scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out three. . .Riley Smith also threw two shutout innings to enable LSU to tie the score. Smith gave up one hit and struck out two. . .Reynolds, who picked up his second victory of the season, pitched a scoreless tenth. He retired Nomura on a ground ball back to him with two runners on base and two out in the tenth. . .The Tigers’ four relievers gave up one earned run and eight hits in 8.2 innings. . .LSU pitchers walked seven and struck out 11.
NOTES
There were no changes in the starting lineup, but that didn’t last for long. In the top of the first, leftfielder Beau Jordan made an ill-advised throw to third base. That mental mistake allowed the batter to get into scoring position. When Arledge followed with a two-out hit, two runs scored instead of just one. As soon as Beau Jordan made the throw, coach Paul Mainieri had Wofford warm up. There was a verbal exchange between Beau Jordan and Mainieri at the end of the inning. Fraley pulled Beau Jordan away from Mainieri. Wofford pinch hit for Beau Jordan in the first inning and remained in the game in leftfield. . .A possum got loose on the field in the seventh inning. It took four members of the LSU ground and two Arkansas players to corral the possum after about four minutes. . .The Tigers had 30 base runners – 16 hits, seven walks, a hit batter and three errors. Two LSU runners were thrown out at the plate on ground balls – Duplantis in the first and Bryce Jordan in the second. Freeman was thrown out trying to steal in the fourth. . .Bryce Jordan went 0-for-3 and had his hitting streak end at ten games. . .Fraley extended his hitting streak to seven games with a double in the tenth. . .Breaux was 1-for-20 on the season before Saturday’s game. . .LSU batters struck out a season-high 15 times. . .Arkansas starting pitcher Zach Jackson gave up one run and four hits in four innings. He threw 105 pitches before being replaced. . .The Razorbacks bullpen was charged with nine runs, but just three were earned. All three earned runs came off Isaiah Campbell. Blaine Knight allowed five runs – all unearned – in his 3.2 innings. . .The Hogs committed four errors, while the Tigers made three errors. . .The bottom three hitters in the Arkansas batting order had nine of its 15 hits – Pennell (4-for-4), Nomura (3-for-6) and Scroggins (2-for-5). . .The last time LSU rallied from a deficit as large as eight runs occurred in 1988. The Tigers trailed Ole Miss by ten runs before winning 15-13. . .LSU is 30-16 overall, 13-10 in the SEC. The Tigers trail SEC West-leading Texas A&M by 2 ½ games. Arkansas is 26-21 overall, 7-16 in the SEC. . .The game lasted 5:02. . .The paid attendance was 10,707. The actual crowd was about 6,300.
UP NEXT
LSU will play host to Arkansas in the final game of their SEC series at The Box on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. Central. Caleb Gilbert (3-2) will be the starting pitchers for the Tigers. .The LSU-Arkansas game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
