3/11/2020
By: Jordan Taylor
Da Boot Sports! 
LSU Tigers (11-5) vs South Alabama (8-9)


      The Tigers will throw Brandon Kaminer (2-1) on throw back uniform night here at the Box. The Jags will turn to Matt Boswell (1-2) to try and tackle the Tigers’ hitters tonight.  This will be the last test for the LSU with SEC play right around the corner. The two team last met in 2014 with  LSU recorded a 9-0 win.  Tonight will be the 43rd meeting between both teams in a series that began back in 1971.  South Alabama leads the all time series 25-17.
      LSU comes into tonight's game on a four game winning streak.  South Alabama has lost two in a row. Tigers look to get the sticks rolling tonight as they rank dead last in the SEC batting average.


        1st INNING::
    The Jags open up the contest with a lead off double. A sacrifice fly moved the runner over to second. Then a RBI single gets the Jags on the board first. UAB would leave two stranded as Brandon Kaminer would finish getting the final out to escape anymore damage.
    Tigers would go quietly in the bottom half of the inning. Cade Doughty would record a one out single, but Daniel Cabrera would ground out into a inning ending double play.


        2nd INNING::
   Southern Alabama would threaten to score after a runner would find his way to third, but gutsy pitching from Brandon Kaminer would get the Tigers back in the dugout,  leaving the runner stranded.
    A loud home run blast to the Diamond Deck from Cade Beloso would tie the game up 1-1. It would be Beloso's first home run of the season. The lead off home run would be all the Tigers could muster up in the innig.                 


        3rd INNING::
    After a quick out, Brandon Kaiminer would find himself in trouble after allowing the bases loaded. But Kaiminer would get the final out to avoid anything crossing the plate.
    Tigers would get things cooking with back, to back, to back hits to open up the bottom half of the inning to take the lead 2-1. With runners in scoring position, Daniel Cabrera cashes in with a two RBI single to extend the lead to 4-1. The excitement of the inning would come to a close as it would end with three straight outs.


       4th INNINGS::
    Jacob Hasty would come in to pitch. He would only need to see four batters to end the USA inning.       
    The LSU bats would go quietly in the bottom half of the inning.     


      5th INNING::
    Eric Walker would take his turn to pitch the top half of the fifth as he would only face the minimum and has a three up-three down inning.
    LSU could get nothing going in the bottom of the frame.  Cade Doughty once again would find his way on base, but would be left stranded.     


      6th INNING::
    Tall, hard throwing right hander Nick Storz would enter the game and make quick work of the first batter,  but would find trouble after hitting  a Jaguar hitter. The Tigers'  defense would bail him out with a outstanding over the shoulder catch by short stop, Collier Cranford.  Storz would then strike out the side.   
    LSU would go to the seventh inning with the score still, 4-1. 


       7th INNING::
    Aaron George would enter the game for the Tigers, taking the mound and taking the Jaguars' batters down, three up-three down.
   Collier Cranford would lead off the inning by belting a double to left field. Cranford would reach third base, but LSU would be unable to bring him home. 


       8th INNING:: 
    Neither team would be able to make any noise in the 8th inning, as we would head to the ninth.


       9th INNING::
    Devin Fontenot would come in to finish off the the USA hitters in the top of the 9th to give LSU their 12th victory of the season, beating the Jaguars, 4-1. 


      With the win, LSU is now 12-5 overall, as they will head to Oxford, MS this weekend to take on the Ole Miss Rebels in their first SEC action of the season. 
      Brandon Kaminer (3-1) would be the winning pitcher tonight for the Tigers, while Devon Fontenot would earn his 4th save on the year. 
   

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3/8/2020
Story Courtesy of: LSUsports.net
By: Garret Sulak




      BATON ROUGE, La. – Designated hitter Gavin Dugas launched a pair of two-run homers to help the No. 20 Tigers finish off the weekend sweep with a 6-4 win over UMass Lowell Sunday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
      LSU improved to 11-5 on the season with the win, while UMass Lowell dropped to 4-9.
      The Tigers are back at The Box for a midweek matchup with South Alabama on Wednesday night. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on SEC Network Plus. Fans can listen on 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge or online at LSUsports.net/live.
      Wednesday night's game will be LSU's annual throwback themed game.
      Dugas went 2-4 at the plate with two homers and four RBI to help the Tigers seal the win. Dugas' two home runs in the game are a single-game personal best, and four RBI is also an LSU career high for him.
      With the scored tied at 4-4, one runner on and two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Dugas launched a pitch from UML closer Josh Becker over the left-field wall to provide the game-winning runs.
      "UMass Lowell deserves a lot of credit, they played hard all weekend and really challenged us today," said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. "We found a way to win, and that's what is most important.
      "The story of the game, of course, is Gavin Dugas. Here's a young man who has had a rough start to the season, but his batting practices have been good all week, and for him to step in today and hit those two big home runs, I couldn't be happier for that young man. Gavin is such a wonderful person who works so hard and loves the game."
      LSU junior right-hander Devin Fontenot (1-0) earned a relief win as he pitched two perfect innings with four strikeouts.
      Sophomore right-hander AJ Labas got the start for LSU and fired six innings, allowing four runs on eight hits with strikeouts on the day.
      "Devin was phenomenal for us, and I thought AJ really battled today, especially on a hitters' day that's warm with the wind blowing out," Mainieri said. "He's not going to be afraid, and he's going to throw the ball over the plate. He gave up two runs in the fifth which gave them the lead, but he came right back in the sixth to retire the side in order.
      The loss was charged to Becker (0-2), who pitched one inning and surrendered three runs on three hits.
      UMass Lowell jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning as first baseman Joey Castellanos launched a solo shot over the left field wall.
      LSU responded in the bottom of the second inning with a three-spot to take a 3-1 lead. Left fielder Mitchell Sanford drew a walk to start the inning and Dugas followed with a two-run shot that cleared the left field wall. Centerfielder Giovanni DiGiacomo followed the home run with a triple down the first base line. Catcher Alex Milazzo then grounded out and scored DiGiacomo from third.
      The River Hawks scored one run in the fourth and two runs in the fifth to reclaim a 4-3 lead. Designated hitter Ciaran Devenney hit a one-out home run to left in the fourth.
      Two River Hawk runs were plated in the fifth as shortstop Keagan Calero and right fielder Vinnie Martin reached on back-to-back two-out singles. Castellanos followed with another single through the right side that scored Calero from second and moved Martin to second. Centerfielder Gerry Siracusa then singled through the left side to score Martin and give UMass Lowell a 4-3 lead.
      The Tigers answered with three runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a 6-4 lead. Third baseman Zack Mathis and Cabrera drew back-to-back walks to start the eighth. Both advanced a base as first baseman Cade Beloso grounded out. Sanford then grounded out, allowing Mathis to score from third to tie the game.
      With Cabrera at third, Dugas came to the plate and launched a two-run homer into the left field bleachers. Dugas' second home run of the game put the Tigers in front for good, 6-4

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3/7/2020
By: Terrill J. Weil
Da Boot Sports!


      
       Landon Marceaux would take the mound for the Tigers as they play game two of their three game series with UMass Lowell at Alex Box Stadium.
      Marceaux would handle the Rivers Hawks batters with ease for the first two innings while the Tigers would plate a run in the first, when Mitchell Sanford would single up the middle with runners at first and second, scoring Daniel Cabrerain . Then would add two more runs in the second inning as both Collier Cranford and Daniel Cabrera would each single in a RBI with runners in scoring position. We would head to the third inning with LSU up 3-0. 
      UMass Lowell would get on the score board as they would send a run across the plate in the top of the third inning. With a runner on first, Martin would double deep down the right field line to send Calero home. 3-1, Tigers. 
      The River Hawks would plate their second run of the game in the top of the fourth inning, as Landon Marceaux would have a shaky inning. 3-2 Tigers. 
      The Tigers would answer back in the bottom of the fourth as Daniel Cabrera would pick up two RBIs in the inning to give LSU  a 5-2 lead. The Tigers would start to look like the Tigers of old, as they played aggressive at the plate with timely hitting and solid, smart base running. 
      LSU would bat around in the bottom of the fifth, scoring five more runs. The inning was highlighted by Cade Beloso's lead off double, followed by a couple of issued walks and timely singles, as the Tigers would increase their lead to 10-2. 
      Jaden Hill would start the sixth inning for the Tigers, easily taking down the River Hawks, three up-three down.  The Tigers would then plate a single run in the bottom of the frame. 11-2, LSU as we head to the seventh.
      Neither team could plate a run in the seventh, as the River Hawks would go three up-three down for the second consecutive inning, and the Tigers would leave two on base.
      The Tigers would add an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, and Jaden Hill would finish his masterful pitching night, sitting down 12 straight batters, as LSU would win the series winning game two, 12-2.  LSU will play game three tomorrow, Sunday March 8th at 2pm, as they will look to sweep the River Hawks.
      With the win, LSU is now 10-5 on the season. Landon Marceaux (2-0) would earn the win, while Jaden Hill would earn his second save of the season. 
      
      

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3/6/2020
By: Terrill J. Weil
Da Boot Sports!


      The Tigers (8-5) return home to "The Box" this weekend to host UMass Lowell (4-6) in a three game weekend series. LSU would start slow at the plate, but would finally get to the River Hawks' pitchers to win game one, 11-2.
      Both teams would go down quietly in the first two innings as Cole Henry would pitch well to the River Hawks and the Tigers would still continue to struggle at the plate. 
      UMass Lowell would plate the first run of the ball game in the top of the third. Henry would give up a single and walk a batter to put runners on first and second with two outs. River Hawks' short stop, Keagan Calero would double down the third base line to put the UML up 1-0, setting up two runners in scoring position. Henry would issue a strike out for the final out to end the River Hawks' scoring threat.
      LSU would answer in the bottom of the third, as they would manage to load the bases with only one out. Zack Mathis would then get hit by a pitch to score Giovanni DiGiacomo from third to tie the game 1-1. The Tigers would leave the sacks full, as both Daneil Cabrera (strike out) and Cade Beloso (ground out to second base) could not come up with a timely hit. 
      The River Hawks would mount a scoring threat in the top of the fourth, putting runners on first and second with only one out. But the Tigers would turn a double play to get out of the inning with no damage done. 
      LSU would finally begin to open things up a bit, sending nine batters to the plate, scoring five runs to take a 6-1 lead. Collier Cranford would record two RBIs on a single, while Cade Doughty would step up next and hit a RBI single. Zack Mathis would add a RBI on a sacrifice fly to left field. The final run scored in the inning would come when Cade Doughty would score from second on a Daniel Cabrera single to left center field. 
      Matthew Beck would replace Cole Henry to start the fifth inning. Beck would sit the River Hawks down in order with a three up-three down inning. 
      The Tigers would then have another nice inning at the plate, as Saul Garza would lead off the bottom of the fifth with a double to right field. Garza would then move to third base on a passed ball. After a Milazzo walk, Giovanni DiGiacomo would single bringing Garza home. Cade Doughty would drive in two more runs with a single to center field. Zack Mathis would add the fourth run of the inning, driving in Bianco from third base. We would head to the sixth inning, with LSU up, 10-1.
      Each team would quietly score a run in the sixth inning bringing the score to 11-2. The Tigers would score their run (Drew Bianco from 3rd) on a wild pitch by UML's pitcher, Blake Bennett with the bases loaded. 
      Eric Walker would come in the game in the top of the ninth to try and finish off the River Hawks after a nice outing by both Mathew Beck and Jacob Hasty. Walker would get the UMass Lowell batters three up-three down to end the game.  Mathew Beck (1-0) would earn his first win of the season. 
      With the win, LSU is now 9-5 overall. The win is also Paul Mainieri's 600th victory as head coach of the Tigers. Coach Mainieri is now in his 14th season at LSU and has a record of 600-260-3. Now in his 38th season as a college head coach, his overall coaching record is 1,464-752-7.
      Next up LSU will host UMass Lowell on Saturday March 7th, at 4pm, then again on Sunday March 8th at 2pm. 
      
      

3/4/2020
Story Courtesy of: LSUsports.net
By: Garret Sulak


       BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 20 LSU Tigers collected nine hits in a 6-3 win over Southeastern Louisiana Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
      With the win, the Tigers improve to 8-5 on the season. Southeastern drops to 5-7.
      LSU is back at The Box Wednesday night for a game against Grambling. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT, and the game will be available on SEC Network Plus. Fans can listen on 100.7 FM in Baton Rouge or online at LSUsports.net/live. "Southeastern is always a very difficult team for us to play, and they threw some good arms against us tonight," said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. "We had some good at-bats early in the game; yesterday at practice we worked hard on avoiding strikeouts by hitting the ball to the opposite field, and we did a pretty good job of that tonight.
      "We've just got to keep working on our hitting and try to keep getting better. It's not pretty right now, we're not tearing the cover off the ball. But, I know our kids can hit better than they've shown, and hopefully things will start to click a little more offensively for us."
      LSU junior left-hander Brandon Kaminer (2-1) started the game and earned the win with three innings of work. He allowed one earned run on three hits with two strikeouts.
      Nick Storz, Trent Vietmeier, Chase Costello, Jacob Hasty and Devin Fontenot all pitched out of the bullpen for the Tigers. Fontenot worked two hitless innings and picked up five strikeouts to earn his third save of the season.
      Southeastern starter Daniel Dugas (0-3) suffered the loss as he allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits in two innings on the mound.
      The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as leftfielder Drew Bianco doubled and later scored from third on a groundout by right fielder Daniel Cabrera.
      LSU added two more runs in the second inning. Catcher Saul Garza scored on an RBI single through the right side by centerfielder Giovanni DiGiacomo. Shortstop Collier Cranford then hit a double to right-center that scored DiGiacomo to give LSU a 3-0 lead.
      Southeastern plated one run in the top of the third on an RBI single up the middle by right fielder Christian Garcia.
      Cabrera led off the bottom of the third with a double to left. Second baseman Cade Doughty then launched a two-run dinger that cleared the left field bleachers to give the Tigers a 5-1 advantage. The homer was Doughty's second of the year and first since LSU's season opener versus Indiana.
      The Tigers added another run in the fifth as Bianco scored from second on an RBI single off the bat of first baseman Cade Beloso. Bianco drew a walk to start the inning and moved to second on a single by Cabrera.
      SLU designated hitter Jacob Burke hit a one-out solo shot to left in the sixth to trim LSU's lead to 6-2. The Lions added another run in the seventh as first baseman Preston Faulkner scored from third on a sac fly to center by Garcia, narrowing the gap to 6-3.


Story Courtesy of: LSUsports.net

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3/2/2020
By: Terrill J. Weil
Da Boot Sports!


       HOUSTON - This past weekend our LSU baseball team traveled to Houston, Texas to participate in the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic. Poor hitting continues to plague the Tigers as they would drop two of three games, falling to 7-5 on the season. 
      On Friday the Tigers to started out well as they took down the Texas Longhorns, 4-3. The highlight of the game was Cole Henry and Jaden Hill combining for 16 strikeouts. With the score tied at 2-2, Daniel Cabrera would launch a two run homer to give the Tigers the lead. Henry would get the win (2-1), while Hill would pick up the save, the first of his career. The loss was the first of the season for Texas. 
     
      Baylor would be the next opponent for LSU on Saturday. The Tigers would take a 4-0 lead  into the bottom of the sixth inning. Baylor would respond with two runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh to defeat LSU 6-4. Branden Kaminer (1-1) would be charged with the loss. 
 "We were up 4-0, but honestly, I thought we should have been up by more," said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. "We had some opportunities to expand the lead, but we didn't get the job done. Our guys have to learn that we have to take advantage of those opportunities. It's a learning experience for a young team that has to learn how to win."   


      On Sunday LSU would face the Oklahoma Sooners. The Tigers wasted a brilliant performance by pitcher AJ Labas (1-2), by allowing Oklahoma pitcher, Dane Acker to pitch a no-hitter shutout. LSU only managed to get three batters on base. One would draw a walk, the other two, were hit by a pitch.  After seven inning, Labas had a no-hitter going, until he would give up a lead off home run in the top of the eighth for the difference in the ball game. 
  "AJ was great today, he threw a lot of strikes," said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. "Unfortunately, they got the bat on one pitch that left the ball park. "We hit a lot of balls hard, but it was one of those days with the roof closed here, the ball didn't carry very well. We hit several balls right at their fielders as well, but congratulations to their pitcher for his outing."  
"It was a tough day," Mainieri said, "but we're heading to Baton Rouge to get back to work and get ready for another week."


      LSU will now return home to play six straight at the Box, starting with Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday, March 3rd at 6:30pm, then Grambling on Wednesday, March 4th at 6:30pm, followed by a three game weekend series with UMass Lowell. 




3/2/2020
By: Terrill J. Weil
Da Boot Sports!

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