Purple edges Gold to open LSU’s fall World Series

BATON ROUGE, La. – Pitchers Sam Dutton, Nic Bronzini and Fidel Ulloa combined to allow just one run on three hits through seven innings Friday night, as the Purple edged the Gold, 2-1, in Game 1 of the LSU Baseball Fall World Series in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

The Purple-Gold World Series concludes with Game 2 at 11 a.m. CT Sunday in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field. Admission and parking are free, and gates to the stadium will open at 10:45 a.m. CT.

Sunday’s game will mark the end of LSU’s six-week fall practice period.

The Purple’s pitching effort on Friday night was highlighted by Bronzini, a redshirt freshman left-hander from San Ramon, Calif., who fired seven strikeouts in three shutout innings while allowing no hits.

Dutton, a junior right-hander from Southside, Ala., blanked the Gold through the first two innings while recording three strikeouts.

Right-handers Kade Woods, Dylan Thompson and Will Hellmers each pitched effectively for the Gold, surrendering just two runs on three hits in seven innings. Hellmers, a senior from Metairie, La., recorded three scoreless innings with two strikeouts.

The game was scoreless until the top of the fourth inning, when Purple third baseman Ryan Kucherak lined a two-run double, scoring rightfielder Jake Brown and leftfielder Zeb Ruddell.

The Gold narrowed the gap to 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth when righfielder Paxton Kling was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.