Cabrera, LSU hand Texas its first defeat
Texas started this year with at least nine consecutive victories for the first time since 2009. That same year LSU sent the Longhorns home one triumph shy of a seventh national championship.
On Friday the No. 14 Tigers, with much less on the line but in a big-league venue before a big crowd, snuffed out UT’s win streak. In a matchup in the Astros’ home of two of college baseball’s revered programs, LSU defeated Texas 4-3 before a fairly evenly split crowd, although a little heavier in purple and gold.
Tigers coach Paul Mainieri spoke at an LSU fundraising event in Houston on Thursday night and said he didn’t shy from the message of the Tigers’ need to beat Texas.
“Football got ’em and basketball got ’em, and it was up to us to uphold our end of the bargain,” Mainieri said. “I’m glad we could pull it out.”
The marquee game of the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic capped Friday’s first-day action at Minute Maid Park. The Tigers (7-3) snapped a four-game losing streak to the Longhorns (9-1), after UT won all three games last year in Austin and the finale of a three-game series in Baton Rouge in 2018.
“Maybe they’ll let me back in Baton Rouge on Sunday,” Mainieri added with a chuckle.
Earlier Friday, Baylor defeated Missouri 4-2 to crank up the classic. The Bears play LSU at 3 p.m. Saturday. No. 15 Oklahoma defeated No. 9 Arkansas 6-3 in the middle game. OU and Missouri start Saturday’s action at 11 a.m. The Longhorns and Razorbacks, old Southwest Conference foes, play at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The three games on Friday had a combined attendance of nearly 16,000 fans. The LSU victory kept the Big 12 from sweeping the day in the Big 12 vs. SEC flavored tournament.
UT led 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth when LSU’s Daniel Cabrera lined his first pitch from Longhorns starter Bryce Elder into the empty right-field seats for a tworun home run. Giovanni DiGiacomo led off the inning by reaching on an error by UT first baseman Zach Zubia.
Cade Beloso then reached base on a fielder’s choice, with DiGiacomo out at second, setting the table for Cabrera’s second homer of the season. LSU starter Cole Henry (2-1) struck out 10 Longhorns over six innings while allowing two earned runs. Meantime Elder lasted 6 1/3 innings, also striking out 10 while allowing three earned runs.
“Two pitches cost me,” Elder said. “If I could have two back, they might not score at all. But it comes down to I just didn’t make pitches when I really needed to make pitches.”
LSU started the scoring in the bottom of the second on an RBI triple off the left-field wall by Saul Garza and an infield RBI single by Cade Doughty. UT answered with two runs of its own in the top of the third on a leadoff home run by DJ Petrinsky, his first of the season, and a sacrifice fly by Zubia that scored Brenden Dixon from third.
The Longhorns grabbed their lone lead at 3-2 in the top of the fourth after Trey Faltine was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Petrinsky. Faltine had reached third with no outs following a throwing error to first by LSU third baseman Zack Mathis on a bunt single by Eric Kennedy.
LSU lost three of its first six games but has rebounded with four consecutive victories. The Tigers and Longhorns each have six College World Series titles, tied for second to Southern California’s dozen.
“Two good teams going at it, we just came up one run short,” UT coach David Pierce.
Pierce also complained about an overturned call at first base that allowed LSU’s second run to score in the second inning, on the Doughty infield single.
“It made no sense to overturn it, no sense at all,” Pierce said. “I thought it was a poor use of our replay.”
Pierce added that it was different from what takes place in conference play, as well, because the ruling was not made on the field by the umpires after they watched it but by an official in the press box.
With Friday’s victory the Tigers improved to 8-2 all-time in big-league ballparks. LSU is making its third showing in the Shriners classic, and the first since 2017. UT is making its ninth appearance in the classic, and first since 2014.
Tickets for the 20th classic, which winds up on Sunday with three more games, are available at Astros.com/CollegeClassic or at the Minute Maid box office before and during games. The classic features a Big 12 vs. SEC theme for a second time, and the first time three years ago set an attendance record for the tournament with more than 53,000 fans over its three days.
Fans especially strolled away Friday impressed with the arms of Elder, Henry and LSU reliever Jaden Hill in particular. The 6-4, 233-pound sophomore missed most of last season with a shoulder injury.