LSU Wins 13-7 over Tulane in New Orleans

The top ranked LSU baseball team got it's third straight win with a 13-7 victory over Tulane on Tuesday night.

LSU Baseball Report/William P. Franques

TOP-RANKED TIGERS POST 13-7 WIN OVER TULANE

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Top-ranked LSU collected 19 hits against seven Tulane pitchers Tuesday night as the Tigers posted a 13-7 win over the Green Wave at Turchin Stadium.

LSU improved to 22-3 with its third straight win, while Tulane dropped to 17-8. The Tigers have won 12 of the last 15 meetings with the Green Wave.

The Tigers play host to Kentucky this weekend in a three-game series at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field. Game 1 of the series is Friday at 7 p.m. CT, Game 2 is set for Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT, and first pitch for Game 3 is Sunday at 11 a.m.

LSU has 55 hits in it last three games, and the Tigers defeated a Tulane pitching staff that entered Tuesday’s game with a 1.89 ERA, the third-best in the nation.

Reliever Hunter Newman (2-0), the second of seven LSU pitchers, earned the victory as he entered the game in the third inning and fired three scoreless frames. Newman allowed just one hit with one walk and one strikeout.

Tulane starter Patrick Duester (3-2) was charged with the loss as he surrendered five runs – four earned – on six hits in 3.1 innings with two walks and three strikeouts.

“We had another tremendous performance at the plate,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “We had production throughout the entire lineup and swung the bats very well. Hunter Newman entered the game and settled it down and allowed us to build the lead. I’m proud of the guys for again excelling in a road environment in front of a great crowd.”

The game marked a happy homecoming for LSU hitting coach/recruiting coordinator Andy Cannizaro, a former all-American shortstop at Tulane.

LSU leftfielder Jake Fraley drove in four runs, centerfielder Andrew Stevenson collected a career-high four hits, rightfielder Mark Laird scored three times and smashed an inside-the-park home run, and second baseman Jared Foster had two doubles and two RBI to highlight the offensive outburst.

Tulane scored a run in the first inning against LSU starting pitcher Russell Reynolds as shortstop Stephen Alemais singled and later scored on a single by third baseman Hunter Hope.

The Tigers tied the game at 1-1 in the second when centerfielder Stevenson singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a flyout by first baseman Chris Chinea and scored on Fraley’s groundout.

LSU scored three runs on three hits in the third as the inning was highlighted by RBI singles from third baseman Conner Hale and catcher Kade Scivicque, and a bases-loaded walk to Fraley.

Tulane responded with two runs in the bottom of the third as rightfielder Lex Kaplan and first baseman Hunter Williams delivered run-scoring groundouts.

Laird lined an inside-the-park homer in the fourth, the first home run of his career, to give the Tigers a 5-3 lead. The dinger was the first inside-the-park homer for an LSU player since Tyler Moore accomplished the feat on June 1, 2014 versus Houston in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.

LSU added three runs in the fifth as Fraley provided an RBI single and pinch hitter Danny Zardon connected on a two-run single.

Foster belted an RBI double in the sixth, and Hale ripped a run-scoring single in the seventh to give the Tigers a 10-3 advantage.

LSU increased the lead to 13-3 in the eighth as Fraley and pinch hitter Kramer Robertson lined RBI singles and Foster drilled a run-scoring double.