BATON ROUGE, La. – The Samford Baseball Team fell 13-1 in seven innings to No. 1 ranked LSU on Sunday, March 12 in its series finale with the Tigers.
The Bulldogs fall to 6-9 overall while LSU improves to 15-1.
"The final score does not tell the story for how competitive that game was today at 4-1 with one out in the 7th," Head Coach Tony David said. "It was a really-well played college baseball game. We ended up with only one hit and one run but really swung it well. Crews, who will likely be in the big leagues in a few months, put on a show in the outfield robbing three or four extra base hits for them. We did a much better job today of battling at the plate all day."
Stephen Klein logged the Bulldogs' lone RBI on the day while also accounting for a hit. Garrett Staton added a run scored.
Will Lynch (0-2) shouldered the loss for Samford. The sophomore righty struck out four batters over four innings pitched while giving up just three hits and conceding four runs.
"You just can't say enough about Lynch," David said. "He was really dominant for four innings on the mound with only one well-hit ball to that point. Thompson was dominant getting us out of a bases loaded jam before tiring out a little."
Turner Thompson (2.1) and Alex Gaeto (0.1) combined to toss the final 2.2 innings for the Bulldogs in relief.
Lynch held the Tigers scoreless over the first two innings, but LSU broke through in the third when Dylan Crews launched a two-out homer to right field to go up 2-0.
The Tigers added two more in the bottom of the fifth when a bases-loaded wild pitch brought in the first run, followed by a 6-4-3 double play with the bases juiced that put LSU on top 4-0.
The Bulldogs cracked the scoreboard in the top of the sixth when Klein logged an RBI 6-3 putout that brought in Staton. Staton led off the inning with a walk and stole second before a deep fly-bal out to right by Jayden Davis moved him up to third with one away.
LSU turned the game on its heels in the bottom of the seventh, beginning with a one-out grand slam by Tommy White to go up 8-1. From there the Tigers recorded an RBI single from Jared Jones, an RBI double from Alex Milazzo, and the game-ending three-run homer from Paxton Kling to give way to the 13-1 final score.
"The results were not what we wanted this weekend," David said. "The injuries that continue to pile up are beyond comprehension. We will regroup this week with the healthy guys that remain to get ready for the dreaded double midweek. We battled the best team in the country against a number of guys that will likely be in the big leagues right away this summer. We need to make sure we use this week to get better."
The Bulldogs will play five games over the next seven days, beginning with a midweek clash at UAB on Tuesday, March 14. First pitch from Young Memorial Field is slated for 4:00 p.m. (CST).
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