Pettit, Tigers Roll Past Tide to Complete Sweep, 5-1 05/19/02 Box Score BATON ROUGE -- For the third consecutive week, LSU pitcher Bo Petitt turned in an outstanding effort, yielding Alabama just one run over five hits in notching his second complete game of the season as the Fighting Tigers denied the Crimson Tide the Southeastern Conference championship with a 5-1 victory Sunday at Alex Box Stadium to complete LSU's first sweep of Alabama since 1988. LSU (38-17, 19-10) will open play as the fourth seed in the Southeastern Conference tournament Wednesday at 5 p.m. against fifth-seeded Auburn. LSU could have moved into the third seed had Florida lost at Kentucky, but the Gators scored five runs in the ninth to take a 5-4 victory. LSU completed its first sweep of a season-ending series since they swept Mississippi State to close the 1992 campaign. Alabama (44-12, 20-10), the SEC West division champion, will open the SEC tournament as the second seed and plays seventh-seeded Mississippi State Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. South Carolina won its second overall SEC championship in the last three years. Other first-round SEC Tournament matchups include third-seeded Florida against sixth-seeded Georgia at 10 a.m., and champion South Carolina against eighth-seeded Arkansas at 8 p.m. Pettit, a Houston native, has now won his last three starts, allowing just four runs and 14 hits over a span of 24.0 innings in defeating Tennessee, Florida and Alabama. Pettit is now 8-6 with a 3.38 ERA. The game was scoreless until the Tigers broke the ice in the third. J.C. Holt led off with an infield single, then went to second when Allen Rice's throw to first went into the LSU dugout. Aaron Hill would then drive the run home, but the Tigers would miss a golden opportunity to put more runs on the board, as with one out, Matt Heath flew out to shallow left field, and Hill was caught napping off of third base to complete a double play. The Tide tied the game in the fifth, with Beau Hearod getting a leadoff single before advancing to third on a pair of ground balls and eventually scoring on a single by Travis Garner. LSU would take the lead back in the bottom of the fifth, with Chris Phillips leading off with a base hit, and scoring on a two-out single by Sean Barker. The Tigers would add insurance in the sixth on a leadoff home run by Heath, tying him with Hill and Phillips for the team lead with seven homers. Heath's fielder's choice would score a run in the seventh before Blake Gill closed scoring with an RBI single later in the frame. Phillips, Barker, Heath and Gill each had two hits to pace the Tigers' 12-hit attack, while Holt extended his hitting streak to 16 games. Alabama starter Shane Sanders lost for the first time since March 30 at South Carolina, as he gave up four runs on 10 hits in six-plus innings.
Congrats to the Tigers. Swept my Tide and as far as I'm concerned, have to be a favorite to take the tourney. LSU's peaking at just the right time. Geaux Tigers and Roll Tide!
thanks for the post! Its really rare to find a gracious Alabama fan! I appreciate it a lot! GEAUX TIGERS!
I agree it was a nice post, but disagree about the gracious Alabama fan part. I have made several trips to Bama over the years for various sporting events...Football, most notably, and have always been treated very nice by opposing fans. A lot better than Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee, and Ole Piss fans for sure.
