LSU Tigers

The LSU Tigers

The LSU Tigers swept the series against Auburn 7-6 in front of 5,998 fans on April 26th at Alex Box stadium.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the bottom of the second with a Mikie Mahtook single to left center and advanced to second when Micah Gibbs walked.

Buzzy Haydel doubled to score Mahtook. Austin Nola was hit by a pitch before Schimpf reached on a fielder’s choice to send Gibbs across the plate. Auburn answered in the third when Casey McElroy singled up the middle before crossing the plate on a homer by Hunter Morris.

Auburn cushioned their lead, 4-2 in the fifth when Trent Mummey singled to the right side then advanced to second on Hargett’s ground out to first base. McElroy singled to left advancing Mummey to third and prompting a pitching change.

Paul Betuccini threw .1 inning, striking out Morris before giving up a run to Mummey as he advance McElroy on a wild pitch, walked Ben Jones then hit Brian Fletcher to load the bases, resulting in the run.

Daniel Bradshaw relieved Bertuccini, walking Wes Gilmer for the second run as McElroy crossed the plate.

Tony Caldwell fouled for the third out and LSU came back to score four runs in the bottom half to take the lead, 6-4.

“We had the bases loaded a couple of times with some of the middle of the lineup guys up and we weren’t able to manufacture even one run,” Auburn head coach, John Pawlowski said. “We had a couple of big strikeouts just when we didn’t need them. When LSU needed to make a pitch, they made a pitch. When they needed to make a play, they made a play. They were certainly better than us this weekend.”

Jared Mitchell singled to right center and Blake Dean walked. Bradley Hendrix replaced Dexter Price on the mound before Dean stole second and Mitchell stole third. Then Tyler Hanover beamed a homer to score Dean and Mitchell.

LSU added a run in the sixth as Mitchell scored another run on a single by DJ LeMahieu.

Auburn rallied for two in the eighth but was unable to pull ahead. The inning opened as Mummey was hit by a pitch and Hargett walked, prompting the fourth change in pitchers of the game.

McElroy singled through the left side and after Jones struck out Morris and Chad Jones, Ott was called to the mound.

Brian Fletcher tagged a single off of Ott to score Hargett and Mummey.

“Tyler Hanover gave us the big hit of the game when we were down 4-2,” LSU head coach Paul Mainieri said. “He hit the three-run homer to give us the lead. Daniel Bradshaw did a pretty good job for a couple of innings there, but he kind of lost it in the eighth inning, so I pulled out the secret weapon (Jones).

Bradshaw was credited with the win allowing two runs on three hits while walking three.

Bradley Hendrix was burdened with the loss in his 1.1 innings of play. He allowed three runs on four hits, striking out two.

John Simmons is a writer for LeatherBeltStore.com check out his LSU Belts – LSU Wallets and his Mens Casual Belts