GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Feel that?
That was the “Bama Breeze” going back to the dugout against the LSU baseball team, which defeated Alabama, 4-3, Friday night after an 11-6 victory Thursday night.
Yes, this was a one-run game, but big picture has the No. 9 Tigers (34-6, 12-5 Southeastern Conference) going for their sixth sweep of Alabama since 2007 on Saturday. LSU will also be going for its fourth sweep in this season alone at 5 p.m. on the SEC Network.
The win Friday gave LSU its 15th series win over Alabama over the last 18.
“At the Bama Breeze, you can play it cool down there,” the late, great Jimmy Buffett sings in his 2006 song, “Bama Breeze” off the “Take The Weather With You” album.
LSU sure can play it cool in this series. The Tigers have won 42 of the last 57 games against Alabama since 2007.
LSU will have to get by Alabama’s ace, though, in sophomore left-hander Zane Adams (4-2, 6.18 ERA, 38 strikeouts, 14 walks, 39 and a third innings. But Adams has been awful in losing his last two starts, which is why his ERA has climbed to above 6.00 and why he was scheduled for game three of the series and not the opener. In his last two games, Adams has allowed 13 earned runs on 17 hits in five innings to Auburn and Mississippi State, respectively.
“He’s really good,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson, who is 6-3 against Alabama as LSU’s coach, by the way. “That’s another sign of how good our league is. A good pitcher’s going to take a punch every once in a while in the SEC.”
LSU sophomore right-hander Chase Shores (5-2, 5.12 ERA, 41 strikeouts, 20 walks, 38 and two-thirds innings) will start for the Tigers after struggling in his last start last week. But relief ace Casan Evans (2-0, 0.67 ERA, 6 saves, 41 strikeouts, nine walks, 27 innings) will be available after throwing 35 pitches for the win in relief Thursday.
After Alabama (30-10, 8-9 SEC) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Kade Snell RBI ground out, the Tigers took the lead for good at 2-1 in the third. Chris Stanfield singled off Alabama starter Riley Quick and scored on Daniel Dickinson’s RBI single. Then Jared Jones doubled in Dickinson to put the Tigers ahead.
LSU went up 4-1 in the fourth when Michael Braswell III doubled, Stanfield singled and Derek Curiel drove both in with a single.
“That was a huge at-bat for Derek,” Johnson said.
His hit also marked Curiel’s 40th consecutive game to reach base safely.
“But the story tonight is from the pitchers’ mound,” Johnson said.
LSU starter Anthony Eyanson allowed one run on four hits and five walks through six innings for the win to go to 6-1 on the season. He struck out 12. Zac Cowan gave up a run in the seventh and ninth, but got his sixth save and second in two nights. He struck out four and allowed four hits and no walks.
Quick (5-2) took the loss for Alabama, which has dropped six of its last eight SEC games. Quick gave up eight of LSU’s 12 hits along with a walk and four runs in three and a third innings.
“These guys take a lot of pride in winning close games,” Johnson said. “It’s in their DNA.”
So is a breeze of wins over Bama that has been blowing for going on two decades.
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