No. 1 Texas A&M denies LSU weekend sweep

BATON ROUGE, La. – Top-ranked Texas A&M overcame a 3-0 deficit with a nine-run fifth inning on Sunday, as the Aggies posted a 14-4 win over LSU in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

Texas A&M improved to 40-8 overall, 16-8 in the SEC, while LSU dropped to 31-18 overall and 9-15 in conference play.

The Tigers return to action at 6:30 p.m. CT Tuesday when they play host to Northwestern State in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field. The game will be broadcast on affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network and streamed on SEC Network +.

Despite Sunday’s loss, LSU has won three straight SEC series and nine of its last 12 games overall.

“We knew we were playing a difficult opponent,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson, “and I think for the first 22 innings of the series we pitched just about as well as we could. Texas A&M got a little bit of a crack there in the fifth inning, and they were able to blow the doors off. We did a good job to get the early lead and keep them at bay for a while, but credit to them for coming through in the end.

“We’re still in the fight for a postseason bid, and we’ve really improved over the last month. We’ve given ourselves a chance. In the last few weeks, we’ve put ourselves into the best position we possibly could to play postseason baseball. We’re just going to have to keep fighting.”

Texas A&M reliever Chris Cortez (7-2) earned the win Sunday, limiting LSU to one hit in 4.1 scoreless innings with two walks and six strikeouts.

LSU reliever Samuel Dutton (0-1) was charged with the loss, as he allowed four runs on four hits in 2.1 innings with no walks and two strikeouts.

Catcher Brady Neal’s two-run homer — his eighth dinger of the season – gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead in the second inning, and LSU extended the advantage to 3-0 in the third on an RBI single by leftfielder Josh Pearson.

The Aggies, however, sent 13 batters to the plate in the top of the fifth, scoring nine runs. A three-run homer by third baseman Gavin Grahovac and a two-run dinger by catcher Jackson Appel highlighted the uprising for Texas A&M.

LSU received a strong relief outing from right-hander Aiden Moffett, who recorded the final two outs of the fifth inning, and worked a total of 3.1 frames, allowing no runs on three hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

The Aggies added five runs in the ninth inning, which included a grand slam by first baseman Kaeden Kent.