11/7/2020
LSU Sports Information
By: Bill Franques

    ​        GOLD BLANKS PURPLE, 3-0, IN GAME 3 OF PURPLE-GOLD WORLD SERIES
 
    BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU Baseball’s Purple-Gold World Series wrapped on Friday night under the lights at Alex Box Stadium, with the Gold winning the final game, 3-0.
 
The Purple squad, which won Games 1 and 2, was the overall series winner.
 
“These three games were not the crispest of games, but you are able to learn a lot about players in these situations,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “You put them under the lights and put some pressure on them and see what happens. Some handle it a little better than others, but this week was great experience for our players.”
 
Gold pitchers Will Hellmers, Blake Money and Aaron George combined to record Friday night’s seven-inning shutout. Hellmers, the starting pitcher, worked three scoreless innings, allowing two hits with four strikeouts.
 
“Will Hellmers is an unbelievably mature kid,” Mainieri said. “He knows the game, and he’s is a winner. He just has a great feel for the game that will help us a lot on the mound and with the bat this season.”
 
The Gold scored two runs in the second inning against Purple starter Landon Marceaux, as right fielder Dylan Crews doubled and scored on second baseman Cade Doughty’s RBI single, and Doughty later scored when third baseman Will Safford’s grounder was misplayed by the Purple infield.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, a leadoff double by Braden Doughty put the Gold in business to start the inning. Doughty came around to score after Giovanni DiGiacomo ripped a double down the right field line. After a walk, Devin Fontenot was able to work out of the first-and-third jam and keep the score at 3-0.
 
George got the ball for the final two innings for Gold en route to victory. George was able to strand two baserunners in his first inning of work, and he pitched around a leadoff single in the seventh to close out the game.

“Hellmers, Money and Aaron George all pitched very well tonight,” Mainieri said. “The Gold only scored three runs, but they got a nice victory. Once again it proves that pitching is at least 90 percent of the game. The only thing that was concerning to me tonight was that we had four errors in the infield. That’s certainly something we’re going to have to tighten up.
 
“Overall, we got a lot done in this series. They weren’t three particularly well-played games, but that shouldn’t take away from some of the good performances that we had. We’ll come back for preseason practice in January, and we will have a very competitive environment with guys working to earn roles on the team.”
 

11/6/2020
LSU Sports Information
By: Bill Franques

    ​         Purple Slugs Its Way Past Gold to Take 2-0 Series Lead in Fall World Series
 
Baton Rouge - LSU Baseball’s Purple-Gold World Series continued on Thursday night at Alex Box Stadium, as behind solid pitching and an offensive slugfest, the Purple defeated the Gold 12-4 to take a commanding 2-0 series lead.
 
The Gold can still win the three-game series if its defeats the Purple by nine or more runs on Friday night in Game 3.
 
For Game 3, right-hander Landon Marceaux will take the ball for the Purple, and the Gold will hand the ball to right-hander Will Hellmers. Game 3 is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. CT.
 
The Purple got on the scoreboard early and often against the Gold squad. Back-to-back walks to Drew Bianco and Collier Cranford put Purple in business in the second. A stolen base and a wild pitch put both runners in scoring position, who then came around to score on a single by Braden Doughty. 
 
Two more runs scored for Purple as a result of Gold’s starter Ty Floyd hitting his 25-pitch limit for the inning. 
 
Four more runs came across to score for Purple in the third, three more in the fourth, and one in the fifth, coming from a solo home run off the bat of Gavin Dugas. Dugas went 2-4 with that solo shot and a double. 
 
“Gavin (Dugas) had a great night tonight,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “He smoked a double down the line, hit a home run, and drove in a couple of important runs.”
 
The 12 runs were more than enough for the pitchers from the Purple squad. Starter Jaden Hill worked past a challenging first inning, which resulted in one run scoring for Gold. Hill pitched three innings, giving up four hits and one run while recording two strikeouts. 
 
I thought Jaden threw the ball as well as he has all fall,” said Mainieri. “He was 94-97 miles per hour and threw a lot of strikes. I thought he looked really good and the best he’s pitched during fall practice.”
 
Trent Vietmeier was first out of the pen for Purple. Vietmeier went two innings, gave up one hit, one run, and struck out two. Matthew Beck closed out the final two innings for Purple, giving up two runs on three hits, but he retired the side in order in the seventh to close out the ball game. 
 
Gold was led offensively by Tre’ Morgan and Cade Beloso, who both notched two hits. Morgan went 2-3 with two singles and two runs scored. Beloso also went 2-3 with a single and a double. 

11/4/2020
LSU Sports Information
By: Bill Franques

    ​Purple Rallies for 7-6 Win over Gold in Game 1 of LSU Baseball Fall Intra-Squad World Series
 
BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU Baseball’s Purple-Gold World Series started with a bang on Wednesday night at Alex Box Stadium as the Purple team scored seven runs in the last two innings to walk off with a 7-6 victory in Game 1.
 
Game 2  begin at 6:30 p.m. CT on Thursday. Right-hander Jaden Hill start on the mound for the Purple, and the Gold will start right-hander Ty Floyd.
 
The Gold team got the scoring fest started early with four runs in the top of the first against AJ Labas. Zach Arnold and Tre’ Morgan notched back-to-back singles before scoring on a triple from Dylan Crews. Crews came around to score on a Will Safford double. The fourth run in the inning came across due to Labas reaching his 25-pitch count limit in the inning.
 
“I thought the start of the game was really great,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “AJ Labas is going to be a great pitcher for us, and we had some great at-bats against him in that first inning. There was a lot of good stuff throughout the game. There are some things we need to tighten up, of course, but I was very pleased with most of what I saw tonight.”
 
The Gold team was able to scratch two more runs across in the fourth and sixth innings to take a commanding 6-0 lead. A two-out double in the fourth by Will Hellmers got the rally started. Hellmers stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and the scored on an error by the Purple team. In the sixth, more free passes resulted in the Gold scoring their sixth run without recording a hit in the inning.
 
The Purple team was kept off balance for most of the game, as it only recorded three hits through the first five innings. Gold starter Garrett Edwards and reliever Alex Brady held the Purple scoreless through five innings.
 
The Purple squad broke through in the bottom of the sixth as it recorded five runs on two hits. Two straight walks to Jordan Thompson and Brody Drost to start the inning ignited the rally. A two-out double to deep left by Drew Bianco brought home three runs to cut the deficit in half, 6-3. Bianco later came around to score on a single by Collier Cranford. Once again, due to the 25 pitch limit, a fifth run was awarded to Purple.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, Cade Doughty and Gus Milligan began the inning with back-to-back singles. A sacrifice bunt by Thompson moved the runners over, followed by a walk to Drost. A fielder’s choice off the bat off Gavin Dugas brought home the tying run. The next batter, Mitchell Sanford, singled up the middle to bring home the winning run, capping off a 7-6 victory for the Purple.

Photos below by: Michael Bacigalupi