Pitching staff falters in second straight rubber match as LSU beats Kentucky 17-10
Kentucky led 7-0 in the rubber match against LSU, but the Tigers roared back for a 17-10 victory.
Kentucky's offense spotted its pitching staff a 7-0 lead after three trips to the plate on Sunday afternoon against LSU, but the Tigers roared back for a 17-10 win to take the series at Alex Box Stadium.
Seth Dardar's three-run homer off Kentucky reliever Jack Bennett gave LSU its first lead at 11-10 in the sixth inning. It was the second homer of the inning for the Tigers and the most decisive swing of the game to that point, surpassing a third-inning grand slam from John Pearson that cut Kentucky's lead to 7-5.
LSU reeled off 11 unanswered runs in the victory, tacking on big innings with four runs in the sixth and eighth innings and two more runs in the seventh inning.
Pitching blowup starts in the third inning, continues in the middle and late innings
Starting pitcher Ben Cleaver kept LSU off the board through the first two innings before running into trouble in the third inning. He struck out Brayden Simpson to open the frame but then went walk, single, walk, RBI fielder's choice and another walk to load the bases once again with two outs. With a 7-1 lead and three walks in the inning, Kentucky's coaching staff elected to go to sophomore right-hander Burkley Bounds out of the bullpen. Bounds promptly allowed a grand slam to Pearson to trim the lead to 7-5. Bounds then allowed a double and a single to push across another run, ending his day after three batters. Sophomore Tristan Hunter entered the game and walked a batter before getting Stanfield to pop out to Bell at shortstop.
The final damage from LSU in the third: six runs, four hits, four walks drawn.
Hunter, despite walking three batters in his outing, didn't allow a run. Left-hander Jackson Soucie closed out the fourth inning and came back out for the fifth. He allowed three hits and a run to make it 10-7.
Bennett entered the game in the sixth. It's a spot Bennett has excelled in this season (1.15 ERA in 15.2 innings entering the game), but Sunday was not his day. He allowed an opposite-field solo homer to LSU star sophomore Derek Curiel to make it 10-8. He got two outs in the inning but also put two runners on base via walk. That's when Dardar came through with a towering homer to right field to put LSU in front for good. Bennett got a strikeout to end the inning and returned for the seventh, facing a one-run deficit, but back-to-back hits to open the day ended his outing.
Ira Austin came in but struggled out of the gate. He hit a batter on his first pitch to load the bases, then allowed a run on a wild pitch. Curiel then drove in another run with a single to left field. Austin's day was over after five innings. Senior reliever Nile Adcock entered and recorded two outs but exited with the bases loaded. Lefty Leighton Harris ended the inning by getting Dardar to fly out to leave the score 13-10.
The Tigers tacked on four more runs in the eighth to finish off their scoring, though none of the runs were earned. Harris allowed two of the runs and Ryan Mullan allowed the other two.
Overall, LSU finished 16-38 (.421) at the plate and drew 11 walks. The Tigers went 8-20 (.400) with runners in scoring position and punished the Wildcats for 10 runs on 4-12 (.333) hitting with two outs.
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How Kentucky built its early lead
Although it wasn't enough to win the rubber match, the offense started hot in the series finale. Kentucky scored three runs each in the first, second and fifth innings, and added a run in the third.
Center fielder Jayce Tharnish led off the afternoon with an infield single, then stole second and reached third on a sacrifice fly. The Wildcats loaded the bases after Tyler Bell walked and Hudson Brown was hit by a pitch. Second baseman Ethan Hindle drew a walk to plate the first run. LSU looked like it could get out of further damage once starter Gavin Guidry struck out freshman Braxton Van Cleave, but senior Will Marcy – who started in left field – worked a walk for the second run of the inning. A wild pitch scored Brown to make it 3-0 before Guidry struck out Owen Jenkins to end the threat.
Tharnish collected his second hit of the day on a bloop single to center field with one out in the second. For the second straight day, Lawrence beautifully executed a hit and run. He shot a grounder down the left field line that scored Tharnish from first. Lawrence was set to cruise into second with a double but LSU left fielder Chris Stanfield couldn't field the ball cleanly, allowing Lawrence to reach third. Bell drew a walk to put runners on the corners, ending Guidry's day as left-hander Santiago Garcia came in to face Brown. Bell moved up to second on a wild pitch, then Brown delivered a 109 mph double down the right field line to score both runners and make it 6-0.
LSU put the first two runners on base in the bottom of the frame and nearly cut the lead in half as a long fly ball off the bat of Steven Milam just drifted foul. To add insult to injury, Milam lined into a double play to erase the lead runner at second base. Cleaver got a groundout to end the frame.
Kentucky added a single run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly from Tharnish. The Wildcats went down quietly in the fourth but tacked on three runs in the fifth inning to stretch the lead back to 10-6. Lawrence hit an opposite-field two-RBI double off the wall to score Tharnish and Hansen. Lawrence came around to score on an RBI single from Bell.
The Wildcats' offense has combined for 19 runs in the last two rubber matches, but neither game resulted in a victory. Kentucky is now 21-6 overall and 5-4 in SEC play.
Up Next
Kentucky returns to action on Tuesday night at Kentucky Proud Park against Miami (Ohio). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
