FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (Press Release) – Senior rightfielder Antoine Duplantis launched a three-run homer in the eighth inning Saturday, and junior right-hander Todd Peterson fired four shutout relief innings to lead No. 15 LSU to a 3-2 win over fourth-ranked Arkansas at Baum-Walker Stadium.
LSU improved to 31-21 overall and 15-12 in the SEC, while Arkansas dropped to 39-13 overall and 19-8 in conference play.
LSU returns to action at 6:30 p.m. CT Tuesday when the Tigers play host to the University of New Orleans in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
“I’m so proud of our guys for giving a tremendous effort and getting a well-deserved win in a very hostile environment,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “There were so many great performances in this game – our players could have felt sorry for themselves after tough losses in the first two games of this series, but they came out fighting today, battling with every pitch.”
With LSU trailing 2-0 in the top of the eighth, the Tigers mounted a rally as third baseman Hal Hughes singled and second baseman Brandt Broussard drew a one-out walk from reliever Cody Scroggins.
Arkansas replaced Scroggins with right-hander Jacob Kostyshock, who was greeted by a three-run homer from Duplantis, his ninth dinger of the season.
LSU was paced at the plate by Hughes, who tied his career-high for hits with three. The home run for Duplantis was his 334th career hit, and he’s 18 hits behind Eddy Furniss (1995-98) on the LSU career hits list.
Peterson (4-2) earned the win in relief of LSU starter Landon Marceaux, and he blanked the Razorbacks over the final four innings of the contest. Peterson allowed just one hit while walking one and recording three strikeouts.
Peterson struck out Arkansas first baseman Trevor Ezell with the tying run on first in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.
Kostyshock (1-2) was charged with the loss, allowing one run on two hits in 0.2 inning with no walks and one strikeout.
Marceaux worked the first five innings for the Tigers, limiting Arkansas two runs on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
Ezell led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk and later scored from third base on a groundout by designated hitter Matt Goodheart, giving the Razorbacks a 1-0 lead.
The Razorbacks increased the advantage to 2-0 in the sixth when Goodheart doubled and scored on a double by centerfielder Dominic Fletcher.
