LSU baseball overcomes late deficit to sneak by Bethune-Cookman in Game 1 on Friday

The Tigers had a scare from the Wildcats on Friday, but they pulled away for an 8-7 win.

The Bethune-Cookman Wildcats came into Friday’s Game 1 with a 5-7 record on the year, but even with the losing record, they gave LSU all they could handle in the opener of this weekend’s three-game series.

The Tigers had to fight their way out of a deficit but ultimately emerged to save face and win 8-7.

Blake Money started on the mound for LSU, he came into the game with a 0.44 ERA. Needless to say, he didn’t leave that way. Coach Jay Johnson’s team started off strong in the bottom of the first inning as Cade Doughty blasted a two-run shot to left-center field to make it 2-0 LSU.

The bats then got quiet until the fifth inning when Bethune-Cookman scored six runs to chase Money from the mound and take a 6-2 lead headed to the bottom of the fifth.

However, while LSU may not be The Empire, it did strike back on Friday afternoon. Jacob Berry got it started with a two-run homer to right field.

That was followed by a bases-loaded walk to Thompson and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to tie it at 6-6 after five innings of play. Dylan Crews then joined the home-run party with a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the sixth to give LSU a 7-6 lead.

That lead was short-lived, though, as in the top of the seventh inning, the Wildcats tied it up on an RBI single. In the bottom of that frame, Whit Merrifield hit an RBI single to center field to score the deciding run to give LSU the 8-7 lead. Bryce Collins and Devin Fontenot came in and shut the Wildcats down for the final two innings to secure the win. Fontenot (1-0) got the win on the mound for the Tigers and Berry led them at the plate going 3-for-5 with two RBI.

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