Baton Rouge, La. — LSU used 5 runs in the first and 4 more in the second, to stretch an early 9-1 lead over Stony Brook, going-on to beat the Seawolves 17-3.
Stony Brook got on the board first in the top of the first, but after that, the Tigers bats took over, forcing the Seawolves to go into their bullpen in the second inning.
Destrehan’s Landon Marceaux got the start and the win for LSU, going 5 innings, giving-up 7 hits, 2 runs and striking-out 3.
“Just fill-up the strike zone and give our team a chance to win,” Marceaux said. “Our offense put up a lot of runs and I was just trying to go as deep as I could and that’s really it.”
“Landon did exactly what we hoped he would do,” said LSU head baseball coach Paul Mainieri, “Unfortunately we had a miss-play there in the first inning and fell behind, but I was just really proud of our guys the way they came back in the first inning.”
Stony Brook starter Greg Marino only lasted 1 and a third and got the loss, giving-up 7 runs on 3 hits.
Offensively, Antoine Duplantis went into the LSU record books, tying Eddy Furniss for most career hits with 352. The tying hit came in the bottom of the 5th inning. Duplantis finished the game 3-5 with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored.
“It was great,” Duplantis said. “I was fortunate enough to have a ton of people in the stands today, obviously since it’s a regional game at home. But it was just a special moment. I’m glad that I had family, friends, teammates and my coaches to be here to witness it.”
“I love Antoine as much as any player I’ve ever coached,” Mainieri said. “He’s got great skills as far as putting the bat on the ball and the reason he’s got 352 hits is because he uses the whole field and he’s tough to pitch to. You pitch it inside, he jerks it in the stands. You pitch it away and he slaps it to left field. So I was real proud of him to get a base hit to the opposite field as being the tying hit with Eddy.”
Brandt Broussard finished 3-4 with 4 RBI and 2 runs scored, and hit his first home run of the season. Zach Watson also went yard for the Tigers in the win.
LSU (38-24) will face Southern Miss Saturday at 6:00 p.m. in the winner’s bracket, with freshman pitcher Cole Henry getting the start for the Tigers. Stony Brook (31-22) takes-on Arizona State in an elimination game at noon.
