BATON ROUGE, La. ? The LSU bullpen tossed seven strong innings, and Blake Dean provided a three-run home run to lead the No. 1-ranked Tigers to an 8-6 win over visiting New Orleans on Tuesday evening at Alex Box Stadium.
Daniel Bradshaw (2-0) pitched five shutout innings of relief ? while allowing only two hits ? and Paul Bertuccini claimed his second save of the year, as LSU (27-9) completed a home-and-home sweep against the Privateers (13-22).
Mikie Mahtook went 3-for-4 with a run scored and was one of four Tigers to record multiple hits as LSU recorded 14 hits overall.
The offense scored seven runs during a three-inning stretch off UNO starter Jake Henderson (3-4) to help the hosts rally from an early 2-0 deficit.
Dean provided the big blow during a four-run third inning, launching a three-run home run to give the Tigers a 4-2 lead.
Ryan Eden and Nick Schwaner each went 2-for-4 for the Privateers, who dropped their sixth straight. Freshman Kyle Maldonado provided a two-run double in the second inning.
LSU retired 16 straight batters at one point and surrendered only two hits after the fourth inning.
The Privateers managed eight hits overall, though UNO did make things interesting with four runs in the ninth ? highlighted by back-to-back bases-loaded walks and a two-run single by Tyrone Wethers.
The Privateers also got a good night from five different relievers who combined to allow only four hits and one unearned run in four innings.
“We needed to do a better job in the middle innings of chipping away at the lead,” said UNO head coach Tom Walter. “The bullpen was solid tonight, but in a midweek game, we have to find a way to score more than two runs in eight innings.”
UNO will continue a nine-game road trip on Friday with a 6 p.m. CT contest at Florida International.
