LSU Beats Louisiana-Lafayette 8-5 In Wally Pontiff Jr. Baseball Classic

The tenth-ranked LSU Tigers (15-5) defeated the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns (12-9) 8-5 in the Wally Pontiff Jr. Baseball Classic at Zephyr Field in New Orleans on Tuesday.

LSU Beats Louisiana-Lafayette 8-5 In Wally Pontiff Jr. Baseball Classic

Among the standouts were center fielder Jake Fraley and second baseman Cole Freeman, each of whom finished with two hits and two RBIs for the Tigers. Kramer Robertson and Brody Wofford also each got two hits for LSU.

In the third inning, Freeman stole second base, and after Robertson doubled down the right field line to score Freeman and then Fraley got a pitch to drop in center field, which allowed Robertson to score and LSU to take a 2-1 lead.

After helping the Tigers gain the lead, Freeman came through again in the fourth inning. After Bryce Jordan scored on a wild pitch, Freeman snuck one by the third baseman who was playing up to score Greg Deichmann and Jordan Romero to give LSU a 5-1 lead.

The fifth inning, contrarily to the first few innings, was a very long one, lasting at least 45 minutes or more. Although the Cajuns posted four runs in the top half of the inning to tie the game at 5, the Tigers put up three runs of their own to bring the score to 8-5.

LSU freshman Antoine Duplantis ended his safe-hitting streak of 19 games (all games so far this season) against Louisiana-Lafayette. During Tuesday’s game, Duplantis went 0-of-4 and was one of only two LSU starters to not earn a single hit, the other being Beau Jordan. Duplantis currently holds the third-longest hitting streak by an LSU freshman in school history behind Blake Dean (20, 2007) and Alex Bregman (23, 2013).

Fellow freshman pitcher Cole McKay also made his start with the Tigers on Tuesday, although his debut was not as strong as he had probably hoped, at least not at the very beginning of the game. McKay walked the first batter he faced, but then struck out the following two. The freshman improved in the second inning, however, striking out three batters while allowing two singles.

LSU relief pitcher Parker Bugg proved to be very efficient against Lafayette. The junior faced two batters and got two outs on just two pitches.

LSU will next visit Texas A&M in a Thursday-Sunday series. The Tigers’ next home game will be against Tulane on March 29.

Caption: OMAHA, NE – JUNE 24: Derek Helenihi #5 of the Louisiana State University Tigers makes the catch for the out against the Texas Longhorns during Game 3 of the 2009 NCAA College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium on June 24, 2009 in Omaha, Nebraska. The Tigers defeated the Longhorns 11-4 to win the national title. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Article by Pablo Mena