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LSU beats Army on walk-off home run

Posted at 7:22 PM, Feb 16, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-16 20:23:10-05

PRESS RELEASE

BATON ROUGE, La. – With runners on first and second and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth inning, freshman first baseman Cade Beloso ripped the first pitch he saw from Army right-hander Sam Messina into the right field bleachers for a three-run blast to lift the No. 1 baseball team to a 6-5 victory against Army Saturday afternoon in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

LSU improves to 2-0 on the season while Army drops to 1-1. The last walk-off by the Tigers was a grand slam by sophomore Daniel Cabrera last April 15 against Tennessee.

The Tigers return to action Sunday against Air Force to wrap up opening weekend at 3 p.m. CT in The Box. The game will be available online only through the SEC Network+, which is accessible through Watch ESPN and the Watch ESPN app.

“Army played a phenomenal game, and I know their kids are hurting right now,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “But, they are young men of tremendous character, and I feel good that they are the future stewards of our nation’s security.

“I was also very proud of our team – we hung in there, made some clutch pitches, and Beloso did his thing at the end.”

Freshman right-hander Landon Marceaux made his starting debut for the Tigers. Marceaux fired 5.2 innings allowing one run on two hits and striking out five.

Chase Costello was the first out of the bullpen for the Tigers going one inning. The freshman right-hander gave up four runs on two hits.

Junior Todd Peterson was credited with the win and improved 1-0 on the 2019 season. Peterson tossed one inning allowing one hit and no runs.

Right-hander Sam Messina suffered the loss for Army after allowing three runs on one hit in the ninth. Army’s starter Daniel Burggraaf gave up three runs on four hits and struck out five in 6.1 innings of work.

The Tigers took an early lead in first inning after junior Josh Smith led off with a base hit. Senior Brandt Broussard followed and advanced to third on a throwing error. Smith crossed home to put LSU on the board.

Senior Antoine Duplantis quickly made it a 2-0 ball game after flying out to center while and driving in Broussard from third.

After four scoreless innings, the Tigers lead was shortened to one. After drawing a walk in the top of the sixth inning, Trey Martin advanced home on single up the middle by Drake Titus.

Army tied up the game in the top of the seventh when Jeremiah Adams scored on a single by Martin.

Jacob Hurtubise drew a walk loading the bases for the Black Knights in the seventh.  A double to right-center from Anthony Giachin allowed three runs to score and gave Army the 5-2 lead