The LSU Tigers routed Stony Brook 17-3 in the opening round of the Baton Rouge Regional on Friday night at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
LSU (38-24), the region’s top seed, faces No. 3 Southern Miss (39-19) in a winners’ bracket game at 6 p.m. Saturday. The Golden Eagles defeated No. 2 Arizona State 15-3 in the regional’s first game.
LSU coach Paul Mainieri said freshman Cole Henry (4-2, 3.86 ERA) will start.
Stony Brook (31-22), the No. 4 seed, and Arizona State (37-18) face off in an elimination game at 1.
LSU’s Antoine Duplantis went 3-for-5 with three RBI. He tied Eddie Furniss’ school career hits record of 352.
Brandt Broussard went 3-for-4 with four RBI. He hit his first career home run.
Saul Garza went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Zach Watson hit a home run and had three RBI. Chris Reid had two RBI.
The Tigers and Seawolves each had 10 hits. LSU took advantage of seven walks, three hit batters and three errors.
“We only had 10 hits, but our hits really came in clutch situations,” Mainieri said. “We had a three-run double from Saul Garza in the first inning, which kind of set the tone for the ball game. Brandt Brought had a big night with a clutch first-inning single and later a three-run homer. What I was really proud about is how our guys just didn’t let up. Every inning we went out there and had terrific at-bats and clutch hits.”
Starter Landon Marceaux (5-2) got the win. He allowed seven hits and one earned run in five innings.
“Landon did exactly what we had hoped he would do,” Mainieri said. “I’ve had enough experience with that Stony Brook club to know that they’re scrappy, hard-nosed, tough and they were very aggressive. I think they’re aggressiveness worked in our favor tonight because it kept Landon’s pitch count down. Sometimes they ambushed first pitches and got base hits. I think what Landon did was terrific.”
Stony Brook starter Greg Marino lasted just 1 1/3 innings. He allowed seven runs but only two were earned.
The Tigers scored five in the bottom of the first after the Seawolves put one on the board. LSU added four in the second, two in the third, three in the fourth and three in the fifth for a 17-2 lead.
