Strong Pitching and Great Defense Leads LSU To A Huge 2-1 Victory Over Alabama In Game One

Photo By: LSUsports.net

5/15/2021
By: Terrill J. Weil
Da Boot Sports


   BATON ROUGE, LA:  The Tigers come into this weekend's SEC series with Alabama with a 30-18 overall/9-15 in the SEC. With hopes of still being able to host a NCAA regional, LSU must keep winning, and on Friday night that's exactly what they did beating Alabama 2-1.  
   Landon Marceaux once again was incredible on the mound going 6.1 innings, giving up no runs on 11 scattered hits with six strikeouts and only issuing one base on balls. 
   Devin Fontenot would earn the save, going 2.2 innings, giving up one run on two hits, with three strikeouts and one base on balls.. 

   The Tigers would strike first in the bottom of the 1st inning. Tre' Morgan would leadoff with a double down the left field line, followed by a single by Dylan Crews, advancing Morgan to third base. 
   Gavin Dugas would then hit a sacrifice fly to left field scoring Morgan. The one run would be all the Tigers could manage,
taking a 1-0 lead into the 2nd inning.

   The contest would remain scoreless until the Tigers were able to push another run across home plate in the bottom of 7th. Cade Beloso would get things started with a two out walk to get on base. 
   Drew Bianco would then step up and hit a double down the left field line. As Beloso advanced to third, a throwing error would allow him to head home safely.  LSU took a 2-0 lead into the 8th inning. 

   Fontenot would give up a two out single in the top of the 8th, followed by a triple to right center by Jim Jarvis, scoring David Heller from first base. Fontenot would strike out Peyton Wilson looking for the final out, sending us to the 9th inning with the score now LSU 2, Alabama 1.

   Fontenot would quickly get the first two Crimson Tide hitters to line and fly out. After issuing a two out walk, Fontenot would strike out Owen Diodati for the final out to seal the 2-1 victory. 

   “Landon Marceaux just kept working out of jams all night,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “He’s done this all year; he’s pitched in the clutch and made some extraordinarily big pitches when it mattered the most. You have to give Alabama credit – they put the bat on the ball a lot.  “They just kept putting balls in play, but Landon just kept making big pitches and we made some big defensive plays. And, Fontenot was amazing tonight in relief of Marceaux. He really rose up and made huge pitches for us when he had to.”

   Alabama would leave 13 players on base as LSU would get solid play from the defense all night on top of the strong pitching performances from Marceaux and Fontenot. 

   The Tigers are now 31-18 on the season, while improving to 10-15 in the conference.  Landon Marceaux improves to 6-4 with the win, with Devin Fontenot earning his 4th save on the season. 

   Alabama falls to 28-18 overall and 11-13 in SEC play....

   LSU will host game two on Saturday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field beginning at 2pm. The game will be televised on SEC Network.    

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