Controversial Third Strike Call Sparks Collapse in Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE, La. — No. 15 Alabama slugfest in Baton Rouge, 11-6, after seven unanswered runs after a debatable strike three call on Justin Lebron in the seventh inning.

The Crimson Tide offense jumped out to an early lead for a second consecutive game. After LSU Starter Kade Anderson forced two quick outs, Alabama's captain Kade Snell pulled an inside 1-2 fastball to the right-field seats of Alex Box Stadium to give Alabama a 1-0 lead in the first.

Alabama's Tyler Fay, who earned his first collegiate start in last Sunday's 4-2 loss against Mississippi State, earned the nod Thursday as Rob Vaughn and Jason Jackson opted to shift around the weekend rotation due to the early series start.

Fay allowed a Derek Curiel leadoff single to begin the game, but two punchouts and a popup prevented the Tigers from adding any runs in the first.

Anderson struck out the side against the middle of the Alabama order in the second. Fay followed up Anderson's 1-2-3 inning with one of his own, picking up a strikeout to put the Tigers down in the second.

Alabama doubled their lead in the third thanks to former LSU Tiger Brady Neal, who pumped an opposite field home run against his former ball club to give Alabama a 2-0 lead.

LSU responded in the bottom of the third. Curiel dropped a single to right field to score Chris Standfield, who doubled the prior at bat to make the Alabama lead 2-1.

After two shutout frames on both sides of the inning, Alabama broke the silence with two home runs in the top of the sixth. With two outs, Kade Snell launched a two-run jack, his second home run of the game, to push Alabama out to a 4-1 lead. Richie Bonomolo Jr. followed Snell up with a solo shot of his own to extend Alabama's lead to 5-1.

LSU responded in the bottom of the frame with a home run of their own, as Ashton Larson launched a three-run blast to cut the Alabama lead to 5-4.

In the top of the seventh with two runners in scoring position and two outs and a 3-2 count on Justin Lebron, LSU reliever Casan Evans dropped a pitch near the ankle level of Lebron for an apparent ball four. As the shortstop began to walk over to first, home plate umpire Derek Hyman rang Lebron up to end the top of the seventh inning on a controversial strike three call. Assistant coach Mike Morrison immediately walked over to Hyman and began furiously arguing the call, and was subsequently ejected from the game.

The momentum shifted entirely behind LSU and the home crowd at Alex Box Stadium, and Jay Johnson's Tigers squad took it and ran.

The Tigers rattled off seven more unanswered runs in the seventh and eighth innings to put the game out of the reach of the Crimson Tide, leading in Baton Rouge 11-5 heading to the top of the ninth.

Alabama scored one in the top of the frame thanks to a two-out Kade Snell bases-loaded walk to cut the deficit to 11-6. However, the Tide couldn't add more in the frame, dropping game one in Baton Rouge 11-6.

Alabama looks to even up the series tomorrow at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

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