April 24, 2009
BATON ROUGE, La. - Auburn was able to smash three home runs on the night but all three were solo shots as Auburn could not overcome the strong pitching of LSU starter Anthony Ranaudo, falling 7-3 in Baton Rouge on Friday night. Ranaudo finished the night with a career-high 15 strikeouts as No. 6 LSU claimed a fifth consecutive win over Auburn.
"We kept ourselves close but the biggest concern I had was that we struck out 17 times tonight," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "We had a couple of opportunities, not many, but we have to be able to get some guys over and we were not able to come up with a big hit tonight."
Auburn's three solo home runs brought the team home run total up to a school-record 89, breaking the previous mark of 87 set by the 1998 team in 60 games. However, of the 89 home runs, 53 have been solo homers, including each of the last eight.
"We kind of live and die by the home run," Pawlowski said. "We have to find ways to get guys on base and then it's a totally different game."
Ranaudo (5-2) walked the first hitter he faced on the night but was pretty much in control from that point on, finishing the night allowing the three home runs and three other hits without issuing another walk after the first. Auburn (25-17, 8-11 SEC) was unable to put two runners on base in the same inning against Ranaudo until the sixth when Hunter Morris homered and Brian Fletcher reached on an error following the blast.
Matty Ott recorded his ninth save of the season for LSU, entering in the ninth with two on and one down but he was able to strikeout both Kevin Patterson and Wes Gilmer to close out the contest.
LSU (31-12, 12-7 SEC) took a 1-0 lead on Blake Dean's sac fly in the bottom of the first only to have Auburn answer in the top of the second on Casey McElroy's solo home run to right-center with one down in the inning to tie it at 1-1. The home run, McElroy's seventh of the season, signaled the sixth straight game that Auburn has hit a home run.
Auburn went up 2-1 in the top of the fourth on Brian Fletcher's 13th home run of the season, crushing a 3-2 pitch to left-center for the team's school-record 88th home run of the season. It also marked the 27th time this season that Auburn has hit multiple home runs in a game.
LSU reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the fourth, scoring twice on three hits and a walk to go up 3-2. Tyler Hanover walked to lead off the inning and scored on Micah Gibbs' RBI groundout. Mike Mahtook scored the second run of the inning when he was hit in the back by a Wes Gilmer throw home from third as Mahtook raced home on an Austin Nola fielder's choice to third. LSU would load the bases with two outs in the inning but Auburn starter Jon Luke Jacobs was able to induce Blake Dean to line out to center to end the inning.
Morris tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the sixth, smoking his 11th home run of the season to right-center with two down and no one on.
Jacobs (3-3) had a very solid outing in his first Friday night start of the season, leaving in the top of the sixth after walking the leadoff hitter. In the previous five innings the right hander allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and six walks with three strikeouts.
"I thought (Jon Luke) did a good job for us and he kept us close and gave us a chance to win," Pawlowski said.
With Jacobs out, LSU was able to score twice with Bradley Hendrix on the mound, loading the bases on a single and another walk from the first two hitters he faced after trotting in from the bullpen. Blake Dean grounded into a double play to score the first run in the inning, closing the book on Jacobs, before DJ LaMahieu's single to center scored Ryan Schimpf to put LSU up 5-3 after six complete.
LSU went up 6-3 in the bottom of the seventh on Schimpf's sac fly to center that scored Micah Gibbs, who had walked off of Scott Shuman to start the inning, went to second on a Nola sac bunt and moved to third on a Shuman wild pitch on ball four of a walk to Buzzy Haydel.
A Tyler Hanover eighth-inning sacrifice fly put the finishing touches on the scoring for the night.
Four different LSU hitters recorded two hits on the night while Fletcher was the only Auburn player with two hits, finishing the night 2-for-4 with the homer.
The two squads will square off in game two of the three-game series at 3pm CT on Saturday. Auburn will send So. LHP Grant Dayton (2-4, 4.81 ERA) to the hill while LSU will counter with Sr. RHP Louis Coleman (8-2, 2.54).
LSU 7, Auburn 3 (Apr 24, 2009 at Baton Rouge, LA)
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Auburn.............. 010 101 000 - 3 8 1 (25-17, 8-11 SEC)
LSU................. 100 202 11X - 7 11 1 (31-12, 12-7 SEC)
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Win-Anthony Ranaudo(5-2) Save-Matty Ott(9) Loss-Jon Luke Jacobs(3-3) T-3:06 A-9665
HR AU - Hunter Morris (11); Brian Fletcher (13); Casey McElroy (7).
