LSU’s Hess runs out of luck against Irish

Published 7:38 pm Sunday, February 18, 2018

<p class="p1">BATON ROUGE — On a positive note, LSU’s suspect bullpen is looking quite promising.</p><p class="p1">But two games into the season the Tigers’ veteran starting pitching is getting flat-out torched in new roles.</p><p class="p1">Notre Dame jumped all over one of the Tigers’ stars from last year’s College World Series, Zack Hess, and this time the Irish hung on for a 10-5 victory to even the season-opening series at a game apiece.</p><p class="p1">“He struggled tonight,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said of Hess. “It dug us a big hole. That’s two nights in a row we’ve gotten in a big hole, and tonight was just a little too much to dig out of it.</p><p class="p1">“You just can’t make a habit of digging a hole that big every game and expect to come out of it.”</p><p class="p1">LSU had to rally from a 6-0 hole in Friday’s game to win 7-6, and likely left Alex Box Stadium feeling like it stole something.</p><p class="p1">No such luck Saturday.</p><p class="p1">LSU, which has recently lost to Notre Dame football in the Citrus Bowl and to the basketball Irish in Hawaii, will try to salvage the baseball series with the rubber game at 11 a.m. today.</p><p class="p1">“The biggest thing is we’ve got to do is score first and then keep pounding them and pounding them,” said designated hitter Beau Jordan, who had a solo home run in the second as one LSU’s few bright spots. “It felt real good, I’m seeing the ball real well. We ended up losing, so it doesn’t matter.”</p><p class="p1">Notre Dame, which had one outdoor practice before shipping south to Baton Rouge, had 10 hits for the second consecutive night and played another error-free game.</p><p class="p1">“We’ve got to come back tomorrow and punch them in the mouth tomorrow,” Jordan said. “They think they’re better than us, they whipped us two nights in a row. We’ve got to prove them wrong.”</p><p class="p1">A good start would help.</p><p class="p1">Hess, trying to make the transition from cult figure closer in last year’s Omaha run to reliable starter for this season, didn’t get out of the third inning before leaving behind an 8-1 deficit.</p><p class="p1">“I’ve got to do a better job than that,” Hess said. “I was elevating too many pitches up in the zone. They were laying off of it — pretty disciplined lineup — they made me work, fouled off some pitches … I’ve got to do a better job of commanding my fastball. </p><p class="p1">“I just wasn’t really comfortable at the start of the game. You’ve just got to learn from it, make sure I don’t do the same thing next week.”</p><p class="p1">Hess allowed six hits, including a three-run homer to Eric Eric Gilgenbach in the third inning but, perhaps even more damaging, also gave up six walks.</p><p class="p1">He walked the bases loaded in the first with one out, but got out of it with one run.</p><p class="p1">Jordan’s home run tied it in the bottom of the second, but it all came apart in the third as the Irish batted around with six hits and three walks.</p><p class="p1">LSU chipped away with three runs in fourth and another in the sixth to cut the Irish lead to 8-5.</p><p class="p1">But a call at second base that Mainieri disputed opened the door for a pair of two-out runs in the top of the ninth for the Irish that basically sealed it.</p><p class="p1">Until then LSU’s bullpen was unscored on for the weekend, which Saturday included freshmen Trent Vietmeier and Ma’Khail Hilliard for 5<span class="s1">2</span>⁄3 scoreless innings before another freshmen, Devin Fontenot, gave up the two in the ninth.</p><p class="p1">It’s the only two runs the Tigers’ bullpen has allowed in the two games.</p>