Alabama Baseball Falls To LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. – Alabama was held to two hits in a 7-1 Southeastern Conference loss to No. 3 LSU on Saturday night from Alex Box Stadium. With the loss, the Crimson Tide falls to 13-22 overall and 4-10 in SEC play, while the Tigers improve to 29-7 and 10-4 in conference play.

Alabama starter Justin Kamplain (1-3) came out on the losing end of a pitcher’s duel, after throwing a career-high seven innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with three strikeouts. LSU starting pitcher Ryan Eades (5-1) allowed just one run on two hits with five strikeouts, before leaving the game after 7 1/3 innings to pick up the win.

Alabama scored its only run in the eighth inning without getting a hit, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 3-1. LSU put the game out of reach after scoring four runs off Alabama reliever Charley Sullivan in the bottom of the inning.

The two Alabama hits came off the bats of Jared Reaves and Josh Rosecrans, both singles coming in the fourth and seventh innings respectively. Taylor Dugas was 0-for-4 and failed to reach base safely for the first time this season, ending his consecutive games streak at 46 games. Ben Moore was 0-for-3 with a walk and had his 13-game hit streak snapped.

In the first inning, LSU scored a pair of runs off Kamplain on a RBI double by Raph Rhymes and an infield groundout by Ty Ross with the bases loaded. Rhymes was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs score and Ross was 2-for-4 with three RBI.

Trailing 2-0, Alabama had runners on the corners with one out in the second inning, but on a squeeze attempt by Kenny Roberts, Eades made a diving catch and doubled off Jon Kelton at first base to end the threat.

The Tigers extended their lead to 3-0 in the sixth inning when a two-out RBI single by Tyler Moore allowed Rhymes to score from third, before UA right fielder Ben Moore threw Ross out at home to end the inning.

Bama got on the board in the eighth inning when a bases loaded sacrifice fly to center field by Brett Booth allowed Roberts to score. The Tide loaded the bases with walks to Roberts and Hunter Gregory and a fielder choice (on which no out was recorded) on a ground ball by Dugas.

LSU answered in the bottom of the eighth, scoring four runs on four hits. The Tigers got a leadoff walk then back-to-back singles plated the first run. A two-run triple by Ross drove in the next two off Sullivan before an out was recorded. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Arby Fields allowed Ross to score from third to cap the scoring at 7-1.

Alabama and LSU wrap up the three-game SEC series on Sunday with first pitch at noon CDT from Alex Box Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN2 with Clay Matvick and Kyle Peterson calling the action. The Tide is scheduled to start freshman left-hander Jon Keller (1-1, 3.74 ERA) and the Tigers will start freshman right-hander Aaron Nola (4-1, 3.32 ERA).