Home run derby in game one
It ain’t about how you start, it’s how you finish and after getting down 5-1, LSU scored 10 unanswered runs to take the opening game of the Alabama series 11-6 Thursday night at Alex Box.
The win snaps LSU’s three-game losing streak in conference games, and the Tigers improve to 33-6 overall and 11-5 in SEC play.
Kade Anderson got the start, but Casan Evans got credited with the win. Anderson was kinda-sorta effective, but when he got hit he got hit hard.
Anderson very nearly escaped the first inning unscathed. He struck out leadoff hitter Bryce Fowler, got Justin Lebron to ground out to short, and had 3-hole hitter Kade Snell down on a 1-2 strike. But Snell, after fouling off the previous two pitches, wouldn’t miss for a third time and took Anderson deep to right centerfield to give Alabama an early 1-0 lead.
LSU had a chance to immediately even things up in the home half of the first, but the Tigers squandered a Derek Curiel lead off single. Curiel was able to move to steal second and advanced to third off of a wild pitch, but both Ethan Frey and Jared Jones struck out swinging, while Daniel Dickinson popped out to short to end the inning.
Anderson responded in a big way in the top of the second, striking out the side, but Tyler Fay made equally quick work of LSU in the bottom half of the inning, sitting down Steven Milam, Jake Brown, and Michael Braswell in order.
This weekend at The Box serves as a homecoming of sorts for former LSU catcher Brady Neal, who of course transferred to Alabama at the end of last season. Neal wasted no time in sticking it to his former team and took Anderson deep in his first at bat to push Alabama’s lead to 2-0 in the third inning.
LSU finally got on the board in the third inning, when Curiel brought home Chris Stanfield Jr. home. It was a bizarre play, Curiel hit a single to right field, but was awarded two extra bases because of an error by Fowler.
For the second at bat in a row, Curiel ended up being stranded at third base. Frey went down on strikes for a second time and that ruined LSU’s chance at tying things at 2 apiece.
Missed opportunities by LSU were Alabama’s gain. Alabama’s entire offensive strategy Thursday night was apparently “homer” as the Tide launched two more in the sixth to push its lead to 5-1 and knock out Anderson along the way. Snell hit his second homer of the night, this time a two-run shot, in the sixth and Richie Bonomolo immediately went yard after that to push the Tide lead to 5-1. Anderson was relieved after giving up the back-to-back jacks. On one hand, he struck out 10 in 5.2 innings, but on the other hand, five of the six hits he allowed went for extra bases, four of which were homers.
Just when it seemed all was lost for LSU, Jay Johnson went to his bench in the sixth inning and changed the game. Johnson called on Josh Pearson to pinch hit for Michael Braswell, and Pearson singled off the first pitch he saw; Pearson went to the bench again and called upon Ashton Larson to hit for Luis Hernandez, and Larson, who hasn’t had a hit since March 11, hit a three-run homer to the Diamond Deck that got the Tigers back to within a run.
With new life suddenly breathed into his team, Johnson called upon closer Casan Evans to hold the line while the Tiger bats clawed their way back into it. Evans came on in the seventh with a runner already standing on first base. The jam evolved into runners on second and third with two outs, but Evans greatly benefited from a called third strike on a full count. The called third strike enraged Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn, and Vaughn ended up getting tossed.
LSU rode the momentum from Larson’s three-run homer in the sixth with a four-spot in the eighth that gave the Tigers an 8-5 lead. Frey and Jones were able to draw walks, and then Monster Milam put LSU ahead with a three-run home run.
LSU would tack on an additional run when Jake Brown came all the way around from first off a Pearson fielder’s choice. An errant throw by first basemen Will Hodo ended up in left field and Brown never stopped running. He was originally called out on the play, but replay confirmed that he beat the throw.
The Tigers wouldn’t stop scoring in the eighth inning either, and LSU plated three more runs to give them a comfortable 11-5 advantage. Ethan Frey went opposite field to right for a two-run blast, and Brown laid down a beautiful sac-bunt that pushed across LSU’s 11th run of the night.