Baseball Drops Two at LSU; Falls Out of First Place
5/21/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
UA needs a win at LSU and South Carolina to lose at Georgia on Sunday to win SEC Championship
Saturday, May 18, 2002
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> Game One Box Score & Play-by-Play
> Game Two Box Score & Play-by-Play
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The No. 2 ranked University of Alabama baseball team dropped both ends of a double header Saturday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium to the No. 15 ranked LSU Tigers and in the process fell out of first-place in the Southeastern Conference Standings for only the second time in the first 29 games of league play.
LSU (37-17, 18-10 SEC) claimed a 6-5 win in the nightcap on the strength of catcher Chris Phillips three-run home run that highlighted a four-run fourth inning off losing pitcher Jeffrey Norris. The Tigers won the opener 3-0 behind the solid pitching of left-hander Lane Mestepey.
With the two losses at LSU and South Carolina’s 12-4 win at Georgia on Saturday, the Crimson Tide (44-11, 20-9 SEC) now trails the Gamecocks by one-half game in the overall standings with one game to play.
The Crimson Tide must defeat LSU on Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep at Alex Box Stadium, and needs South Carolina to lose at Georgia to win its 14th SEC Championship and first outright title since 1983. A South Carolina win at Georgia, not only completes a three-game sweep of the Bulldogs, but gives the Gamecocks the league outright league title.
In addition, Alabama has lost three of its last five SEC series after starting the season with a 12-3 league record in its first 15 games. Alabama has also lost seven straight games to LSU, dating back three years. UA’s last win over LSU was a 14-0 shuotut win here in Baton Rouge to close out the 2000 regular-season.
LSU, winners of nine of the last 10 games in the series, look to match their longest winning streak in series history over Alabama. The Tigers beat the Crimson Tide eight straight times from 1987-90.
The story of Alabama’s disappointing Saturday was a repeat of its recent struggles with runners in scoring position and leaving too many runners on base.
In the one-run loss in the nightcap, Alabama was just 3-for-11 with men in scoring position after going 1-for-5 in the shutout loss in game one.
“We are not swinging the bats at all,” Alabama head coach Jim Wells said following the back-to-back losses. “We gave away too many runs with our pitching and struggled all day to extend the offense. LSU had only six hits and made the most of them and we had 11 hits and did not make the most of our opportunities.
“We have done a great job to win the games we have won, we just did not swing the bats today.”
Senior first baseman Brent Boyd was 0-for-9 in the two games and stranded 10 runners on base. He also hit into one double play and struck out three times in the twinbill.
LSU snapped a 1-1 tie in the fourth inning with four runs off losing pitcher Jeffrey Norris. All four base runners reached base after two outs.
Norris (4-1) downfall began as he walked first baseman Eric Wiethorn with two outs. Dustin Hahn, hitless all season long against left-hand pitching, capitalized on the walk and delivered a triple into the right field corner, scoring Weithorn from first base with the 2-1 lead.
Norris followed the triple by hitting David Raymer with the next pitch and then served up the three-run home run off the right field scoreboard to Phillips as LSU jumped to a 5-1 lead.
The left-hander exited the game after four innings, allowing five earned runs on three hits, with two walks, one strikeout and one hit batter.
Alabama scored three runs in the sixth inning to cut the LSU lead to 5-4, but stranded the bases loaded when Brent Boyd struck out against Jake Tompkins to end the inning.
LSU added an insurance run in the seventh inning off reliever Brian Reed, the third of four UA pitchers in game two.
J.C. Holt lined a one-out single to center field and stole second base. After Reed hit Aaron Hill with a pitch, Taylor Tankersley became the fourth UA pitcher in the game. Tankersley got a pop from Wally Pontiff for the second out, but allowed a two-strike base hit to Sean Barker as LSU took a 6-4 lead. Holt scored from third on Barker’s RBI single to right.
Alabama got a run back in the eighth inning on some alert base running and then ran itself out of the inning as the tying run was picked off third base to end the inning.
Allen Rice opened the eighth with a base hit to right field and moved into scoring position when McClanahan laid down his second bunt single of the game down the third base line. Pavkovich moved both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, his 11th of the year.
Stonard popped up to left field and Rice tagged and scored from third base on the shallow fly ball catching Hahn by surprise. Brown walked for the third time in the game to put runners on the corners with two outs.
Brown attempted to steal second base, but McClanahan was picked off third base on a ball fake by Phillips behind the plate.
“(Phillips) did a good full arm fake and made a great play,” Wells added. “We were struggling to score runs and were trying anything to generate some offense.”
The bottom of the second inning ended when Adam Pavkovich made a spectacular play at short to thrown out Matt Heath from shallow left field. Heath protested the bang-bang play with first base umpire Al Davis and was quickly ejected from the game. LSU head coach Smoke Laval voiced his displeasure with the call and was tossed as he argued with third base umpire Tony Maners.
After the ejections of Heath and Laval, Alabama broke its 15-inning scoreless drought, including 11 innings on Saturday against LSU, with a run in the top of the third inning. Adam Pavkovich laced a one-out double off the left field wall and scored on Peter Stonard’s base hit up the middle to give UA a 1-0 lead.
LSU tied the game in the bottom of the third inning as center fielder David Raymer drew a lead off walk and moved to third on John Zeringue’s base hit to right-center field. Raymer scored when home plate umpire Fred Cannon called a balk against UA starting pitcher Jeffrey Norris. The balk allowed LSU to even the score at 1-1.
Beau Hearod opened the sixth with a walk and moved to third base on Chad White’s hit-and-run single to right field with no outs. Travis Garner followed with a base hit to right field, scoring Hearod from third base.
Allen Rice then smashed a hard grounder to first baseman Eric Weithorn sending White and Garner into scoring position with one out. Scott McClanahan followed with a two-run double to the wall in left-center field, scoring White and Garner to cut the LSU lead to 5-4.
Clay Harris replaced LSU starter Brian Wilson and the right-hander struck out Pavkovich for the second out. LSU then went to left-hander Jason Vargas, who coaxed a ground ball from the left-hand hitting Peter Stonard, who was safe on the error by second baseman Aaron Hill.
Right-hander Jake Tompkins, the fourth Tiger pitcher in as many batters, came on and issued a walk to Brown loading the bases. Tompkins escaped further damage as Boyd chased a breaking for the strikeout.
Wilson (8-4) worked 5 1/3 innings and allowed four runs on eight hits. He added five strikeouts and three walks in throwing 99 pitches for the win. Tompkins worked the final 2 1/3 innings for his fourth save. The right-hander walked two and struck out three UA batters.
The two teams will wrap up the three-game series and the 2002 regular season with a 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Alabama will send right-hander Shane Sanders (8-1, 2.89 ERA) to the mound, while LSU will counter with right-hander Bo Pettit (7-6, 3.86 ERA).
Game 1 of DH -- LSU’s MESTEPEY BLANKS ALABAMA, 3-0
BATON ROUGE, La. -- In a battle of two potential first-team All-SEC pitchers, LSU sophomore left hander Lane Mestepey out-dueled Alabama senior Lance Cormier as the 15th ranked Tiger shutout the No. 2 ranked Crimson Tide 3-0 in the first game of a double header Saturday afternoon before 8,210 fans at Alex Box Stadium.
Mestepey (10-3), a native Zachary, La., a suburb of Baton Rouge, continued his mastery over the Crimson Tide with a five-hit shutout in the series opener. The left-hander added five strikeouts and did not walk a batter as he ran his consecutive scoreless innings streak at home to 23 1/3 innings.
The sophomore ran his record to 2-0 in two starts against the Crimson Tide with Saturday's game one gem. He beat Alabama and Cormier last year on April 27 in Tuscaloosa, holding the Crimson Tide hitless for the final 7 1/3 innings in a 4-2 win.
In his two career starts, Mestepey has limited the Crimson Tide to two runs (one earned) and nine hits, with two walks and 11 strikeouts.
Cormier (9-3) was equally impressive on the hill for Alabama, but one bad inning cost him and his team the win.
LSU broke the scoreless tie with four straight singles to open the seventh inning off UA starter Lance Cormier, who had matched zeroes with LSU lefty Lane Mestepey through six innings.
Tiger third baseman Wally Pontiff delivered the game’s first extra base hit with a double down the right field line. Right fielder Sean Barker, who attempted to bunt on the first pitch, delivered a 1-1 pitch up the middle to score Pontiff with the first run of the game. Barker advanced to second base when center fielder Scott McClanahan’s throw was late at the plate.
Matt Heath singled to left field moving Barker to third base. Blake Gill followed with a base hit to left, scoring Barker with the Tigers second run. After Dustin Hahn struck out, David Raymer’s base hit to right field scored Heath with a 3-0 lead. Gill tried to advance to third base when Garner’s throw came home, but was thrown out for the second out of the inning. Chris Phillips flied out to left to end the inning as the Tigers took a 3-0 lead.
Mestepey pitched around two base hits in the first inning and a leadoff single in the fifth inning to hold the Crimson Tide scoreless through seven innings.
Travis Garner and Jeremy Brown singled in the first, but UA left a runner at third base when Brent Boyd grounded out to end the inning.
Beau Hearod up the middle to open the fifth inning but was stranded in scoring position when Adam Pavkovich grounded out and Allen Rice fouled out to end the inning.
Cormier retired the first nine batters he faced and holding the Tigers scoreless through six innings.
LSU second baseman J.C. Holt spoiled Cormier’s perfect game with a lead off single in the fourth inning. Holt was quickly erased when Aaron Hill rapped into a double play.
The Tigers wasted a pair of walks in the fifth inning against the right-hander. Matt Heath drew a one-out walk, but was picked off first base. Blake Gill drew a two-out walk but was stranded when Dustin Hahn grounded out.
In the sixth, Cormier worked out of another jam as Hill rapped into to his second double play in as many at bats to end the scoring threat. Catcher Chris Phillips reached on a throwing error by Adam Pavkovich with one out. Holt followed with a ground ball single through the left side of then infield. Hill then rolled into another inning-ending double play leaving the game scoreless through six innings.
Alabama was shutout for the third time this season and was shutout by LSU for the first time since a 3-0 loss at the Winn Dixie Showdown at the Louisiana Superdome in 1994.
The loss also dropped UA to 25-1 this year when holding the opposition to three runs or less. Alabama was also held without an extra base hit in game one for just the fourth time this year. The Crimson Tide has lost all four of those games.
