BATON ROUGE – With the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth inning, first baseman Greg Deichmann hit a bases-clearing double to the gap in left-center field to lead eight-ranked LSU to a 7-3 series clincher over the top-ranked Florida Gators Saturday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
With a 7-3 lead after six innings, junior Parker Bugg entered the game in relief of Riley Smith and retired all nine batters he faced to earn his third save of the season.
Smith improved to 2-0 with the win. The junior college transfer limited the Gators to three runs on four hits in three innings of work.
LSU improved to 39-16 and 19-10 in the conference with the victory. Florida dropped to 43-11 and 18-10 in league play.
The teams return to action for the regular season finale at 3:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPNU; however, it will begin on ESPNews until the lacrosse match currently airing on ESPNU is completed. Fans can also listen to the game on the LSU Sports Radio Network, including 98.1 in Baton Rouge.
The contest resumed in the bottom of the third inning after play was suspended Thursday night. After rightfielder Antoine Duplantis drew ball four from Florida pitcher Brady Singer, centerfielder Jake Fraley singled to third base to load the bases. Shortstop Kramer Robertson got the Tigers out to a 1-0 lead with an RBI infield single.
Florida evened the game in the top of the fourth with a score on a passed ball. LSU regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning when Deichmann singled through the right side to make it a 2-1 game.
The Tigers put up five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 7-1 lead. With the bases loaded, Singer hit Bryce Jordan and walked Beau Jordan. Again with the bases loaded, Deichmann hit the bases-clearing double in the gap on the first pitch from reliever Nick Horvath.
In the top of the sixth, Florida bounced back with an RBI double by Jonathan India and RBI single by Nelson Maldonado to cut the lead to 7-3.
Singer (2-2) was charged with the loss as he allowed five earned runs on six hits in 2.1 innings in 2.1 innings with three walks and three strikeouts.
