BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – The No. 11 Texas A&M Aggies surrendered a late lead in a 2-1 loss to the No. 12 LSU Tigers in Friday evening's series opener at Alex Box Stadium.
Texas A&M led 1-0 at the seventh inning stretch, but the Tigers took advantage of an Aggie error to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh and LSU grabbed the lead with a solo home run by Josh Smith in the eighth.
Aggie starting pitcher John Doxakis was left with no-decision despite a stellar performance on the mound. He yielded just one unearned run on four hits while striking out four over 6.2 innings. The southpaw became the 18th Aggie to reach the 200-strikeout plateau in their career. Bryce Miller (4-1) was saddled with the loss, yielding one run on one hit while striking out one in 1.1 innings.
Texas A&M pounded balls all night, but the LSU defense played flawless and limited the Maroon & White to six hits. Logan Foster and Braden Shewmake each registered a double for the Aggies. Texas A&M was doomed by five runners left on base in the fifth and sixth innings, missing opportunities to add insurance runs.
The Aggies and Tigers play a doubleheader Saturday with games scheduled for 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
T3 | Logan Foster started the frame with a wall-banger to centerfield for a double. With one out, Zach DeLoach drove a single up the middle, plating Foster. A&M 1, LSU 0.
B7 | Leadoff batter Brandt Broussard reached base and scored on a pair of errors by the Texas A&M rightfielder. A&M 1, LSU 1.
B8 | With one out, Smith hit a first-pitch offering over the rightfield fence for the go-ahead home run. LSU 2, A&M 1.