FOURTH-RANKED TIGERS POST 9-5 WIN OVER TULANE
BATON ROUGE, La. –
Shortstop Austin Nola provided the go-ahead run with a solo homer in
the fifth inning Tuesday night, and fourth-ranked LSU erupted for a
six-run sixth inning en route to a 9-5 win over Tulane in Alex Box
Stadium. LSU improved to 36-10, while Tulane dropped to
29-16. The Tigers extended their win streak over the Green Wave to four
games, as LSU swept the season series with Tulane for the second
straight year. LSU’s 36 wins with 10 games remaining in
the regular season equals the team’s final wins total in 2011, when the
Tigers finished 36-20. LSU travels to Oxford, Miss. for a three-game SEC series versus Ole Miss that begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday. All
nine LSU runs Tuesday night were scored with two outs, including
Nola’s solo blast in the fifth that broke a 2-2 tie. The home run was
Nola’s third of the season and his second in four games. The
Tigers took advantage of a pair of Tulane errors and scored six runs on
four hits in the sixth, sending nine men to the plate. Centerfielder Arby Fields’ two-run triple and a run-scoring double by rightfielder Mason Katz highlighted the LSU uprising. Junior
left-hander Brent Bonvillain (4-0), the second of seven LSU pitchers,
was credited with the win as he worked the fifth inning and allowed one
unearned run on two hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Tulane
starter Alex Byo (6-4) was charged with the loss as he surrendered
three runs on seven hits in five innings with one walk and two
strikeouts. “I thought we played pretty well tonight, and
we demonstrated a lot of balance in the lineup,” said LSU coach Paul
Mainieri. “Every starter in our lineup either had a hit or scored a
run, and we had some tough, competitive at-bats. I was very concerned
about this game because Tulane has an excellent club, and we had just
finished an emotional series with Georgia, but our players were focused
and earned an important win.” LSU starter Joe Broussard
worked the first four innings of the contest, limiting Tulane to one
run on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Bonvillain, Kevin
Berry, Chris Cotton, Cody Glenn, Nick Rumbelow, Kurt McCune and Nick
Goody combined to allow just one earned run over the final five innings. LSU 9, Tulane 5 (May 01, 2012 at Baton Rouge, La.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tulane.............. 000 110 030 - 5 12 2 (29-16) LSU.................. 010 116 00X - 9 11 2 (36-10) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Tulane - Alex Byo; Randy LeBlanc(6); Kyle McKenzie(6); Andrew Garner(8) and Blake Crohan. LSU
- Joe Broussard; Brent Bonvillain(5); Kevin Berry(6); Chris Cotton(6);
Cody Glenn(8); Nick Rumbelow(8); Kurt McCune(9); Nick Goody(9) and Ty
Ross; Jordy Snikeris. Win-Brent Bonvillain(4-0) Loss-Alex Byo(6-4) T-3:02 A-10563 HR LSU - Austin Nola (3). Actual Attendance: 5,464
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