BATON ROUGE, La. – Vanderbilt scored six unanswered runs in a comeback attempt at LSU on Thursday night, but dropped the opening game of the series, 10-6.
LSU pushed across six runs, four earned, on four hits and an error in the bottom of the third.
A solo home run in the bottom of the fourth gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead. The inning continued with a walk, single and another walk. LSU plated two more runs on a two-run single to go in front by nine.
Vanderbilt got on the board with a four-run frame in the top of the fifth. With one out, Davis Diaz ripped a single to right field. Troy LaNeve was hit by a pitch and Jayden Davis singled through the right side, scoring Diaz from second.
With two outs and two on, Jonathan Vastine launched his fifth home run on the season, a three-run blast to right-center to cut LSU’s lead to 9-4.
The Commodores continued to scratch away at the Tigers’ lead in the top of the sixth. Camden Kozeal led things off with a single and Diaz reached on an error with two outs to extend the inning. Jack Bulger then knocked a pinch-hit single to right-center, scoring Kozeal from second. Davis brought home Diaz on a double to left, cutting LSU’s lead down to three.
Sam Hliboki, David Horn Jr. and Levi Huesman combined to hold LSU to no earned runs on two hits over the final 4.1 innings. Vandy was unable to complete the comeback, dropping the series opener in Baton Rouge, 10-6.
Vastine went 2-for-4 with three runs driven in. Davis went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs. Diaz scored twice for the Commodores.
No. 7 Vanderbilt falls to 23-7 (6-4 SEC) while No. 18 LSU improves to 21-10 (3-7 SEC). Game 2 in the series will begin at 7 p.m. Friday on SEC Network.
