April 7, 2016
Baton Rouge, La. — No. 2 Vanderbilt dropped the series opener at No. 15 LSU 13-4 on Thursday night at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (20-9, 5-5) jumped on the scoreboard in the first inning taking advantage of an Ethan Paul error to scratch out a run with Paul mishandling a ground ball then throwing it away to allow leadoff hitter Antoine Duplantis to race around to third base to start the game. Duplantis scored one batter later on a ground ball to shortstop. A Tyler Campbell error allowed a run to score in the second but the Tigers blew the game open in the third inning, sending 11 batters to the plate to score seven runs on six hits. Commodores’ (24-6, 6-4) starter Jordan Sheffield led off the inning with a hit batter and a walk before surrendering a double to Greg Deichmann to push the LSU lead to 3-0. After a strikeout, Sheffield gave up a two-run single and a two-run home run to push the Tigers’ lead to seven runs. The Commodores looked to be out of the inning two batters later on a double play but a poor throw to first allowed the batter to reach in front of Cole Freeman, who tripled in the run before scoring to cap the seven-run inning. The seven runs in the inning are the most allowed in an inning this year by Vanderbilt.
The Dores scored four runs in the ninth inning with three straight freshmen reaching base and Connor Kaiser’s grounder to third scoring Ethan Paul. Jeren Kendall and Bryan Reynolds added RBI-singles before the frame was over.
Sheffield took the loss giving up a career-high nine runs, seven earned, on seven hits over three innings. The right-hander walked two and struck out three in his second loss of the season. Freshman Chandler Day pitched the final five innings allowing four runs, two earned, on eight hits.
Eight different Commodores had hits in the loss led by Kendall’s two hits.
Jared Poche earned the win with seven scoreless innings for LSU. The lefty fanned a career-best eight and scattered four hits in his fourth win of the year. Duplantis scored three runs and recorded two hits for the Tigers.
Vanderbilt returns to action tomorrow night at 7:30 on ESPNU against the Tigers. Right-hander Kyle Wright gets the ball for the Commodores against LSU’s Alex Lange.
