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LSU 5, Auburn 1: Tigers fail to take advantage of numerous opportunities

A lineup shuffle was not enough to ignite Auburn's struggling offense as the Tigers dropped another game at LSU.

Pod Katt, And the Valley Shook photo

No. 3 LSU jumped out on starter Michael O'Neal (4-2) for five runs in four innings and won, 5-1, at Alex Box Stadium Saturday night, despite leaving 12 runners on, mostly thanks to Auburn's ineptitude at the plate with runners on base.

The typically reliable catcher Blake Austin, receiving O'Neal for the first time this season, left five on base, including grounding into a double play with the bases loaded to end the eighth. Hunter Kelley was a bright spot, leading off and grabbing two hits, as was Cullen Wacker, who went 2-for-3 with a walk, extending his hit streak to nine games, a career high.

LSU (21-2, 4-1) starter Ryan Eades improved to 5-0 after allowing only one run to score on seven hits and two walks in 6 2/3 innings. Auburn's bullpen was impressive for the second night in a row, with Justin Camp and Rocky McCord going the final four frames and holding the Bayou Bengals' bats to four hits and no runs. The staff continued to struggle to strike batters out, though, recording only a fourth-inning K of Andrew Stevenson.

Mason Katz pounced again, with a two-run double in the first to open the scoring. Raph Rhymes picked up another RBI in the third, and the lead grew to 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth, before Ryan Tella doubled and was knocked in by Damek Tomscha in the top of the fifth for Auburn's lone run.

Auburn was awful with men on base. The Tigers left the bases loaded in the fifth, runners on second and third in the sixth, stranded a leadoff double in the seventh and left 'em loaded again in the eighth with the Austin double play. For the game, Auburn was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Cody Glenn will try to lead LSU to a sweep Sunday at 1 p.m., while Will Kendall is expected to get the start for Auburn.

Box score, via auburntigers.com

Auburn 1 (15-8,0-5 SEC)

Player ab r h rbi bb so po a lob avg
Hunter Kelley rf 5 0 2 0 0 1 5 0 2 .375
Jordan Ebert 2b 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 2 .284
Cullen Wacker lf 3 0 2 0 1 0 3 0 0 .333
Garrett Cooper 1b 4 0 1 0 0 0 7 0 1 .316
Ryan Tella cf 4 1 2 0 0 1 3 0 0 .295
Damek Tomscha 3b 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 2 0 .260
Blake Austin c 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 5 .319
Dan Glevenyak ss 3 0 1 0 0 1 2 2 0 .247
Sam Gillikin dh 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 .171
Patrick Savage ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .268
Michael O'Neal p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Justin Camp p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 -
Rocky McCord p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 -
Totals 34 1 10 1 3 5 24 9 10

LSU 5 (21-2,4-1 SEC)

Player ab r h rbi bb so po a lob avg
JaCoby Jones 2b 4 0 0 0 1 0 5 3 3 .213
Mark Laird rf 4 3 2 0 0 0 1 0 3 .348
Alex Bregman ss 5 1 3 1 0 0 0 2 0 .417
Raph Rhymes lf 4 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 .344
Mason Katz 1b 5 0 2 2 0 0 12 0 2 .364
Christian Ibarra 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 6 1 .346
Chris Chinea dh 2 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 .240
Ty Ross c 4 0 1 0 0 0 4 2 3 .208
Andrew Stevenson cf 3 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 .192
Ryan Eades p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 -
Nick Rumbelow p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Joey Bourgeois p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Chris Cotton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 -
Totals 35 5 11 4 3 1 27 15 12

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Auburn.............. 000 010 000 -  1 10  1
LSU................. 201 200 00X -  5 11  0
-------------------------------------------
E - Ebert, J.(5). DP - LSU 1. LOB - Auburn 10; LSU 12. 2B - Kelley, H.(3); Tella, R.(5); Glevenyak, D(6); Katz(5); Ibarra(5). HBP - Laird; Stevenson. SH - Glevenyak, D(8). SF - Rhymes(2). SB - Laird(2). CS - Kelley, H.(1).

Auburn ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np era
Michael O'Neal L,4-2 4.0 7 5 4 1 1 0 0 2 0 19 23 6 5 82 3.40
Justin Camp 1.0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 6 1 2 28 2.55
Rocky McCord 3.0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 12 6 3 37 3.81
LSU ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np era
Ryan Eades W,5-0 6.2 7 1 1 2 4 0 0 0 0 25 28 5 10 113 1.59
Nick Rumbelow 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 3 3.86
Joey Bourgeois 1.0 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 4 5 0 2 20 2.45
Chris Cotton 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 4 1 1 10 1.72

Win - Eades (5-0). Loss - O'Neal, M. (4-2). Save - None. WP - Bourgeois(2). HBP - by O'Neal, M. (Laird); by O'Neal, M. (Stevenson). Inherited runners/scored: Rumbelow 1/0. Pitches/strikes: O'Neal, M. 82/44; Camp, J. 28/14; McCord, R. 37/25; Eades 113/75; Rumbelow 3/2; Bourgeois 20/11; Cotton 10/8.

Umpires - HP: Josh Miller 1B: Scott Erby 2B: Donald Gilmore 3B: Fred Cannon
Start: 6:30 Time: 2:43 Attendance: 10751
Weather: 76; Mostly Cloudy; SE 11 MPH