BATON ROUGE, La. - Seventh-ranked LSU scored three runs in the bottom
of the seventh inning and used a stellar pitching performance from freshman
Aaron Nola to defeat ULM 4-1 Friday evening in the opening round of the NCAA
Baton Rouge Regional.
With the win, LSU (44-16) moves into the winner's bracket and will take
on Oregon State Saturday at 7 p.m. ULM (31-29) will meet Belmont Saturday at 2
p.m. in an elimination game.
It was a pitcher's duel for most of the night Friday as ULM starter
Randy Zeigler went toe-to-toe with Nola for six innings before finding trouble
in the seventh. Nola (7-4) was better though as he allowed just one run on four
hits while striking out a career-high 10 batters in eight innings of work. Chris Cotton came on and worked a 1-2-3 ninth
inning to pick up his first save of the season.
In a 1-1 game, Ty Ross led off the bottom half of the seventh inning
with a line drive single off the glove of ULM shortstop Jeremy Sy. Alex Edward
followed with a single through the right side to advance Ross to third. Edward
took second on the throw. Tyler Hanover delivered the big blow with a two-run single
up the middle to drive in Ross and Edward and give LSU its first lead of the night.
Austin Nola added an RBI single to centerfield off senior reliever Wil Browning
to make the score 4-1.
Zeigler (5-7) pitched 6.1 innings, giving up five hits, three earned
runs while striking out three and walking one in his return to Alex Box
Stadium. The junior left-hander began his career at LSU before transferring out
following the 2009 season.
ULM had an opportunity to take the lead in the top of the seventh
inning when it loaded the bases with just one out, but junior Corben Green
grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.
The Warhawks struck first in the top of the third inning when Les Aulds
laced a two-out single through the right side to score Taylor Abdalla from
second base. Abdalla reached on a single to left field and advanced to second
on a groundout to shortstop.
LSU answered right back in the bottom half of the inning with a run
keyed by a throwing error on Zeigler. The left-hander appeared to have Arby
Fields picked off at first base, but his throw sailed down the right-field
line, allowing Fields to take third base. A batter later Austin Nola delivered
a sacrifice fly to left field to tie the game at 1-1.
Regional Notes
Oregon State defeated Belmont 2-1 in the first game of the day ... 9,902
fans were in attendance for Friday evening's game between LSU and ULM, an NCAA
Tournament record for all games played in a Baton Rouge Regional since 1986 ...
ULM senior Caleb Clowers went 0-for-4 Friday to snap his 27-game hit streak ...
Clowers also had his 31-game on-base streak come to an end ... The Warhawks are
now 1-9 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 0-4 against LSU in postseason play ...
ULM's matchup against Belmont on Saturday will be the first ever meeting the
two schools.
