LSU Wins 5th Straight With Victory Over Tulane As John Pearson Comes Back From Injury And Homers

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

Just in time for the stretch run of the regular season, two LSU players nursing injuries of late played with gusto and powered the Tigers to a 13-6 victory over Tulane on Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium.

John Pearson, who had not played since April 24 at Mississippi State because of a hamstring injury, went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and a two-run home run, and Seth Dardar, who has been bothered by an ankle injury, went 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

A healthier LSU (29-21, 9-15 SEC) now faces No. 5 Georgia (38-11, 18-6 SEC) on the road in a critical three-game league series Friday through Sunday as the Tigers try to make a late run to reach the NCAA postseason. After the Bulldogs, LSU hosts No. 25 Florida (32-17, 13-11 SEC) to close the regular season.

LSU Baseball: Casan Evans On Schedule To Possibly Pitch This Weekend At Georgia

LSU may also get weekend starting pitcher Casan Evans (2-2, 5.47 ERA) back for the Georgia series after missing his last two starts with arm stiffness.

The Tigers got to work immediately against Tulane (23-27, 8-13 American Conference) Tuesday by taking a 6-0 lead in the first inning. After Mason Braun walked to lead off, Cade Arrambide launched a two-run home run – his 15th of the season. Derek Curiel then walked and scored on Steven Milam’s double for a 3-0 lead.

Pearson looked recovered from that hamstring when he doubled in a run for a 4-0 advantage to continue the first inning scoring. Then Darder followed with an RBI single for a 5-0 lead. And William Patrick’s RBI ground out to shortstop pushed the sixth run across.

LSU scored three runs in the second inning for a 9-0 lead as Milam hit a two-run double, and Dardar added an RBI single.

Jason Wachs hit a two-run home run off LSU reliever Grant Fontenot in the fifth inning to cut LSU’s lead to 9-5. The Tigers responded with one run in their fifth for a 10-5 lead on a sacrifice fly by Milam. An RBI groundout by Patrick pushed LSU’s lead to 11-5 in the sixth before Pearson’s two-run home run in the seventh for a 13-5 lead.

The Tigers totaled 16 hits in all.

LSU starter Danny Lachenmayer (2-0) earned the victory after allowing one run on four hits and no walks in three innings. He struck out five. Four relievers followed Lachenmayer with none logging more than two innings – Cooper Williams, Fontenot, Ethan Plog and Zion Theophilus. LSU pitching walked only two and struck out 13, and several of LSU’s top relievers were rested.