Still alive

HOOVER, ALA – If the LSU baseball season continues into the NCAA Tournament, Tiger fans can thank Todd Peterson.
The sophomore right-hander not only threw five innings of solid relief, but the Lake Mary, Florida product delivered the biggest hit of game in a 6-4 win over South Carolina at the SEC Tournament, a two run double off of the left field wall in his first at-bat in his college career.
LSU (34-24), facing elimination from the tournament, needed the win not only to keep their tournament championship title hopes alive, but also to keep themselves alive for a shot at being a part of the NCAA post-season. Even though the Tigers defeated Mississippi State in their first game of the tournament on Tuesday, LSU was still considered on the bubble when it came to making it into the NCAA tournament, especially after falling to Florida 4-3 on Wednesday.
With the win, the Tigers were scheduled to face Florida in another elimination game on Friday afternoon. Any win from that point on would be considered lagniappe for LSU this season.
Before Peterson’s game changing extra base hit, the Tigers found themselves in a 3-3 tie heading into the top of the twelfth inning. With two outs, Antione Duplantis reached on a throwing error from South Carolina LT Tolbert. Austin Bain followed with a walk.
Daniel Cabrera brought home Duplantis on a single and set up a first and third situation with the Tigers leading 4-3. It was now decision time for LSU head coach Paul Mainieri. With Peterson now having to bat for himself because the designated hitter spot was officially killed for the rest of the game, Mainieri either had to let Peterson come to the plate or pinch hit.
With no one in the bull pen getting ready and Peterson basically cruising along on the mound, Mainieri put the bat in the hand of his closer. As Mainieri tells it after the game, his game plan for Peterson was not what wound up happening.
“I told him to stand in the batter’s box, take three strikes and not move,” Mainieri said. “He looked at me with a sad face, like he was kind of hurt. I asked him, ‘Did you hit in high school?’ He said, ‘Coach, I hit nukes in high school.’ So I said, ‘OK, Todd, let it rip.’ ”
It wasn’t a nuke, but it did the damage necessary. With two strikes, Peterson drove an inside fast ball over the head of left fielder Carlos Cortes, scoring Bain and Cabrera.
The Gamecocks did manage to put a run across in the bottom half of the twelfth, but Peterson finished the game by striking out Jonah Bride and put the cherry on top of what was a thrilling Tiger win.
LSU got things going in the top of the second inning. Hunter Feduccia walked to lead off but was put out at second when South Carolina turned a double play with Jake Slaughter at the plate. Bryce Jordan was issued a two out walk and moved to third base on a Hal Hughes single.
The Gamecocks got back into the game scoring solo runs in the bottom of the fourth and sixth runs respectively.
LSU took over the lead in the top of the eighth inning plating a single run of their own with one of the best examples of great base running by Duplantis. After drawing a leadoff walk, Duplantis reached second on a wild pitch. Bain then followed with a free base of his own.
Another wild pitch put Duplantis at third base. A strike out kept runners at first and third with one out. Feduccia then stroked a ball into shallow right field, putting Duplantis in motion on the tag up. A perfect throw at the plate should have gotten Duplantis out, but the junior outfielder slid around the tag of South Carolina catcher Hunter Taylor, who missed touching Duplantis by inches allowing the go ahead run to score and gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead.
LSU lost control of that lead in the bottom of the ninth when centerfielder Zach Watson tracked an LT Tolbert line drive before he realized his angle was too steep. A late attempt at a jump was fruitless, and Tolbert coasted into third for a triple to lead off the ninth. Jacob Olson tied the game at three runs two batters later when he singled back up the middle against a drawn-in infield to tie the game.
That is when Peterson’s heroics saved the day and maybe the season.
“Um, coach, I’ve got to be honest,” Peterson told Mainieri in the postgame news conference. “I never hit in high school.”
“What?!?” the LSU coach exclaimed.
“I hit BP (batting practice) a couple times,” Peterson confessed. “I did hit nukes.”
Mainieri’s head was in his hands, his mouth agape, the reaction of a man whose career is in the hands of 20-year-old oddballs like this.