BATON ROUGE, La. – Second baseman Tyler Hanover went 3-for-4 and scored twice, and designated hitter Matt Gaudet knocked in three runs as No. 1 LSU defeated Pepperdine, 8-1, Thursday night in Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (8-0) will face Brown (0-0) Friday at 7 p.m. in Alex Box Stadium. The game will be Brown’s second of a Friday doubleheader, as the Bears will play Pepperdine (3-5) earlier in the day at 2 p.m. in Alex Box Stadium. Admission is free to the Pepperdine-Brown game.
Sophomore left-hander Chris Matulis (2-0) earned the victory for the Tigers, pitching 5.0 innings and allowing only one run on four hits with two strikeouts.
Pepperdine right-hander Cole Cook (0-2) was charged with the loss after throwing 7.0 innings and allowing four runs on seven hits with nine strikeouts.
“This was a very nice win for us tonight,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “Pepperdine has an excellent club, and Cook is definitely one of the best pitchers we’ll see all season. I was proud of the way Matulis competed in the game, and I thought Daniel Bradshaw really made a statement tonight with a great relief outing.”
The Tigers got out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when catcher Micah Gibbs, who finished 2-for-4, singled down the right-field line with two outs to score Austin Nola from first.
Pepperdine responded in the top of the second when first baseman Ryan Heroy launched a solo homer to left to tie the score at 1-1. The dinger was Heroy’s first of the season.
In the fourth inning, Gibbs singled and reached third on a hit-and-run single by Hanover. The next batter, Leon Landry, lofted a sacrifice fly to left allowing Gibbs to score putting LSU ahead 2-1.
Two batters later, Gaudet, who finished 2-for-4, lined a two-out single into right-center scoring Hanover and giving the Tigers a 3-1 advantage.
Left fielder Trey Watkins led off the bottom of the fifth with a triple to the gap in right-center. Watkins’ triple was his third of the season. The next batter, Nola, blasted a deep sacrifice fly to center scoring Watkins and putting the Tigers ahead, 4-1.
Bradshaw came on in relief for Matulis in the sixth inning with no outs and two on and escaped from a bases-loaded jam. Bradshaw threw 3.0 shutout innings, allowing only one hit and striking out three.
The Tigers broke the game open in the eighth when Pepperdine reliever Alex Najera walked Mikie Mahtook with the bases loaded and then gave up a two-RBI single to Gaudet to put LSU up 7-1. Mahtook scampered home to make the score 8-1 when Najera threw a wild pitch to pinch hitter Johnny Dishon.
