Duplantis Ties Hits Record as LSU Routs Stony Brook

BATON ROUGE — With a single to shallow left field in the fifth inning, LSU’s Antoine Duplantis etched his name into the record books Friday night.

The former Lafayette High star went 3-for-5 with three runs scored as the Tigers’ senior outfielder collected career hits 350, 351 and 352 in LSU’s 17-3 rout of Stony Brook in the opening day of the Baton Rouge Regional. 

Duplantis’ final base hit tied him with former first baseman Eddie Furniss for the most all-time in Tigers history.

“It is nice to get it out of the way,” Duplantis said. “At the same time I haven’t been thinking about it too much. When I get in the box I am thinking of competing and helping the team win.”

Even though Duplantis may not have been focused on tying the record that didn’t mean that it wasn’t special to rewrite the record book in front of the home crowd at Alex Box Stadium.

“I was fortunate enough to have a ton of people in the stands,” Duplantis said. “It was a special moment.”

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of him,” Mainieri said. “I count myself the lucky one to have seen every one of those hits. Hopefully he’s got lots more in him.”

LSU’s 17 runs is tied the most tallied in a game this season by the Tigers. LSU had previously scored 17 runs in wins over Air Force (17-5), Bryant (17-8) and Southern (17-4) but all those contests occurred back in February.

The are also the most scored by LSU in a NCAA tournament game since a 21-7 win over Cal Irvine in 2008 — the final game at the old Alex Box Stadium. That was also the last time LSU had scored five-plus runs in an inning of an NCAA postseason game before Friday night.

Stony Brook (31-22) though was the first team to get on the scoreboard.

LSU freshman pitcher Landon Marceaux gave up a one-out single to Chris Hamilton who then reached second on a passed ball and scored on a fielder’s choice by Brandon Alamo. 

Marceaux though would overcome that first-inning miscue as the freshman right handler picked up the win after giving up two runs on seven hits in five innings of work. Marceaux became the first freshman to start and pick up the win in an NCAA postseason tournament game since Aaron Nola did it back in 2012.

“Just fill up the strike zone and give our team a chance to win,” Marceaux said afterwards on what his approach was Friday night.

LSU (38-24) would take the lead in the bottom frame of the first.

With one out, Duplantis reached first base on a throwing error and then reached second on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Cade Beloso would join him on the base paths after being hit by a pitch and then was followed by Zach Watson who drew a walk. 

With the bases loaded, Chris Reid drew a walk to score Duplantis and then Saul Garza cleared the bases with a double to right field. Garza then would score on a single by Brant Broussard.

Seawolves starter Greg Marino was tagged with the loss as he surrendered seven runs (two earned) on three hits in one inning and a third.

That inning of offensive output was a sign of things to come as LSU continued to touch up Stony Brook’s pitching as the Tigers plated multiple runs in the first five innings of the game. 

“That was a pretty sound butt kicking,” Stony Brook head coach Matt Senk said. “I am not sure I need to really comment too long on that.”

Broussard proved to be the unexpected hitting hero of the night as the Baton Rouge native went 3-for-4 and took a changeup over the left field wall in the fourth inning for his first career home run.

“This summer was the last time,” Broussard said of when was the last time he hit a home run. “I didn’t hit any in high school, hit two in junior college and two this past summer.”

LSU returns to action Saturday in the winner’s bracket game of the Baton Rouge Regional when it takes on Conference USA tournament champion Southern Mississippi who clobbered Arizona State 15-3 earlier on Friday.

First pitch between the Tigers and Golden Eagles is scheduled for 6 p.m. Freshman Cole Henry is slated to start for LSU.

“It’s gonna be as tough a game we play all year,” Mainieri said. “It will feel like an SEC game tomorrow.”