Texas A&M dropped the second game of the series with No. 6 LSU on Friday night, as a three-run third inning, a couple of late home runs and a solid outing by Jared Poche propelled the Tigers to a 7-4 win at Alex Box Stadium.
Stephen Kolek started on the mound for the Aggies (18-10, 2-6 SEC) and cruised through the first two innings without allowing a hit. The third was a different story, however, as the Tigers recorded four consecutive hits in the inning to take a 3-0 lead. Antoine Duplantis plated the first run of the game with an RBI single to left field, and then Kramer Robertson drove in two more on a double to left that skipped over a jumping George Janca at third base.
The Aggies threatened in the fourth when they loaded the bases with only one out, but Austin Homan struck out on a curveball in the dirt and Walker Pennington popped out to shortstop to end the frame.
LSU (19-9, 5-3) tacked on another run in the fifth on an RBI single by Josh Smith.
In the seventh, Robertson and Deichmann hit back-to-back solo home runs to extend the Tigers’ lead.
A&M got all of its runs via the two-run homer. Pennington jumped on a fastball from Poche for a two-run shot to left in the seventh and then Cole Bedford hit a homer with a runner aboard with two outs in the ninth.
Kolek fell to 1-2 with the loss, allowing three earned runs in 5.2 innings. He struck out two and walked two. Poche (6-1) lasted seven innings, striking out six and surrendering two runs.
The teams will square off in a rubber match Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.