Live Gameday Updates/Thread: No. 12 LSU Baseball vs Eastern Kentucky Game Two
Pregame
Landon Marceaux will be back on the mound after going four innings and allowing three earned runs in his first start of the season.
LSU lineup notes:
Mitchell Sanford gets the start at left field. Collier Cranford will start at shortstop. DiGiacomo back in centerfield for Hampton. Also Alex Milazzo will catch and bat in the four hole
Lineup:
Mathis 3B
Doughty 2B
Cabrera RF
Milazzo C
Beloso 1B
Garza DH
DiGiacomo CF
Sanford LF
Cranford SS
Cranford earns his first start at shortstop after battling with Hughes for most of the fall and spring. It'll be interesting if he can bring a spark to the order that LSU desperately needs.
Facing a right handed pitcher, Mainieri elects to start five left handed batters including the freshman Sanford, who replaces Wes Toups in the outfield.
With Jaden Hill already used for this weekend, expect Devin Fontenot, Nick Storz and Trent Vietmeier to maybe get some relief innings in.
About 10 minutes from first pitch. Make sure to follow along.
Top 1
Cade Doughty can't bring in an easy grounder and Eastern Kentucky plates its first baserunner off an error.
Zack Mathis makes a nice play at third for the game's first out but the runner advances to second base.
Doughty redeems himself a bit with the second out of the inning on a slow roller. Two away here in the first with a runner on third.
Marceaux with an inning ending strikeout. Tigers now up to bat
Mid 1
Leadoff double for Zack Mathis gets a loud applause from the Alex Box faithful.
Cade Doughty falls victim to a groundout. Tigers with a runner on second and one out here in the first.
There's a Daniel Cabrera homerun. Tigers had scored 2 runs in their last two games. They have two in the first inning here today.
Beloso strikes out on three pitches but LSU does damage in the first, lead Eastern Kentucky 2-0
Top 2
Marceaux strikes out his second consecutive batter of the afternoon. He's looked really sharp here early.
Marceaux has struck out three of the six batters he's faced today. Tigers with two away in the second.
Milazzo is dangerously close to a pickoff at second that would end the inning. Mainieri has challenged the call.
Call is overturned and LSU is out of the inning with no runs allowed. Very impressive defense we're seeing from the freshman Milazzo.
Mid 2
LSU goes three up, three down with three groundouts in the second. Tigers hold a 2-0 lead.
Top 3
Cade Doughty commits his second error in three innings. It's been a rough day for the freshman to say the least.
LSU has two quick outs with an Eastern Kentucky runner stalled at second base.
Giovanni DiGiacomo ends the inning with a popfly catch. Marceaux is rolling here through three innings. Just 28 pitches.
Landon Marceaux is rolling right now. Just one hit allowed and is sitting at 28 pitches after three innings, 23 of which are for strikes.
Mid 3
Cranford flies out to left in his first at-bat as a starter.
Mathis drills a one out single into center. CJ Willis pinch hitting for Cade Doughty, who was likely pulled after committing two errors in the first three innings.
Dugas seems like a likely replacement for Doughty at second. Willis strikes out swinging and Mathis is stuck at first with two away. Daniel Cabrera up to bat after his homerun in the first.
Cabrera strikes out swinging to end the third.
Top 4
Another nice snag by Zack Mathis, who throws across his body for the fourth's second out. Marceaux is keeping that pitch count very low. Just five pitches so far this inning.
Marceaux's great day continues as Eastern Kentucky goes three up, three down in the fourth
Pitch count: 42
Mid 4
Milazzo and Beloso both popout to start the fourth. Garza now up to bat with two away.
Three up, three down for LSU in the fourth. Tigers lead 2-0 here in game two with Cabrera's two-run shot being the only runs of the game so far.
Top 5
Mathis is having a field day over at third base today. He's made about four or five really nice grabs.
Collier Cranford had a little dance with a hard groundball but controls it and makes the play at first to end the inning.
Marceaux sits at just 50 pitches on the afternoon. Looks like he can probably go past the six inning range Mainieri was hoping for to start the weekend.
Mid 5
DiGiacomo with a single and a steal to start the fifth for LSU. Tigers looking to give Marceaux a little more breathing room.
Sanford strikes out after a nine pitch at bat. Tigers with a runner on second and one away.
Mathis flies out to end the fifth, LSU leads 2-0.
Top 6
Marceaux back out for the sixth and right at the 50 pitch mark. The sophomore has four strikeouts on the day as well.
Marceaux gets two quick outs but a single has a Colonels runner on first with two away. Just the second hit of the day.
LSU catches a runner in no mans land for the second time and the Tigers are out of the sixth. Play was reviewed and upheld. Another great pop time from Milazzo likely gave the runner some hesitance
Mid 6
Quick inning for the LSU offense as the Tigers strike out on back-to-back at-bats. Milazzo up to the plate to try and salvage the inning.
Milazzo strikes out.
Top 7
Marceaux back out for the seventh. He's still under 60 pitches with 57 on the day.
Leadoff single for Eastern Kentucky is the third hit of the day off of Marceaux. The sophomore comes right back and forces a popout.
Marceaux facing his first trouble of the day as a double in the gap has runners on second and third with one away. And like clockwork, Marceaux forces a popout out of bounds to Cade Beloso, big out for the Tigers right there but need one more to get out.
Big fist pump from Landon Marceaux who strands two with a killer strikeout to get LSU out of a jam 2-0 at the seventh inning stretch.
Mid 7
Beloso grounds out to first base for the seventh's first out. Tigers offense goes three up, three down. It hasn't been a great day for the bats ever since the first inning really.
Top 8
Another three up, three down for Marceaux, who's career day continues without a blemish.
Mid 8
Tigers have loaded the bases here in the eighth with two outs, looking for some insurance runs from Alex Milazzo.
Milazzo draws a walk and LSU adds an insurance run to go up 3-0 here in the eighth.
Cade Beloso blows this game wide open with a double that reaches the wall, scores three runs.
Top 9
Aaron George has walked the first two batters of the inning and Alex Box is a bit antsy. Eastern Kentucky gets a run off of a single to left field.
Runners on first and second for the Colonels.
Fontenot in for George, who allows two runs and walks two. Tigers still lead 6-2 with runners on second and third.
RBI groundout makes it a 6-3 game. One away for the Tigers
Fontenot gets a strikeout for out No. 2, LSU one away from tying the series.