SEC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

LSU makes UA pay for mistakes

Arkansas' Andrew Benintendi, left, drops a ball hit by LSU during the seventh inning of a Southeastern Conference college baseball tournament game, Thursday, May 21, 2015, in Hoover, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

HOOVER, Ala. -- LSU did in Arkansas again at the SEC Tournament late Thursday night, but the No. 1-ranked Tigers had plenty of help.

No. 20 Arkansas committed a season-high six errors that contributed to seven unearned runs as LSU advanced to the SEC Tournament semifinals with a 10-5 victory before a largely pro-LSU crowd at the Hoover Met.

At a glance

at Hoover (Ala.) Metropolitan Park All times Central

THURSDAY’S GAMES

Alabama 4, Missouri 3,

Missouri eliminated

Florida 11, Auburn 2,

Auburn eliminated

Texas A&M 6, Vanderbilt 1

LSU 10, Arkansas 5

TODAY’S GAMES

GAME 13 Alabama vs. Vanderbilt, 3 p.m.

GAME 14 Florida vs. Arkansas, TBD

"You can't make five, six errors against anybody, much less one of the best teams in the country, and expect to win, that's for sure," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said.

The Tigers (48-9) earned an off day with their fourth consecutive victory over Arkansas (35-21) at the SEC Tournament, while the Razorbacks face a rematch with No. 6 Florida in a 6:30 p.m. elimination game today.

Arkansas is expected to start right-hander Dominic Taccolini (6-3), while Florida will start 6-7 left-hander A.J. Puk (7-3).

LSU, which bolted to a 6-0 lead off James Teague (4-4) in the second inning, improved to 11-3 in postseason games against Arkansas. The record includes' Arkansas' first loss at each of the past three SEC Tournaments.

The Tigers out-hit Arkansas 12-8, committed no errors and made a couple of standout defensive plays. Arkansas, the second-best fielding team in the SEC entering the postseason, had committed more than three errors in a game only once, a five-error performance in a 13-6 loss to Maryland on Feb. 22.

"That's about what we did against Maryland," Van Horn said. "The difference was this just happened early, Maryland happened late."

The Razorbacks' sloppy defensive lapses started early. After Mark Laird singled to open the game, third baseman Bobby Wernes threw Jake Fraley's sharp grounder into right field while trying to start a double play. On Fraley's stolen base attempt moments later, catcher Carson Shaddy's throw tailed off into center field, allowing a run to score.

Connor Hale drove in Fraley with a sacrifice fly, then Shaddy threw another ball into center field trying to catch Bregman stealing. Teague's wild pitch brought Bregman home. Chris Chinea added an RBI single to put LSU ahead 4-0 in the first inning.

"It just started out bad," Van Horn said. "Bobby makes a bad decision and tries to throw the ball to second base. The leadoff man, who can really run, is running on the pitch. ... Then Carson Shaddy throws two balls into center field because he's too hyped up, and it's a learning experience for him I guess.

"We got behind the eight ball real quick."

LSU's two-run fourth inning was aided by a two-base throwing error on pitcher Jackson Lowery's pickoff attempt.

Arkansas, trailing 6-0, made things interesting with a big second inning that knocked out LSU starter Austin Bain, who had throttled South Carolina in his previous start.

Rick Nomura singled, moved to second on a walk to Wernes and scored on Michael Bernal's one-out single. Clark Eagan followed with a run-scoring single up the middle and Bernal ran home on a wild pitch to make it 6-3. Joe Serrano's single brought home Eagan, and the Razorbacks sent SEC home run leader Andrew Benintendi to the plate as the tying run.

LSU Coach Paul Mainieri lifted Bain and brought in Russell Reynolds, who retired Benintendi on a fly ball to left field.

The Tigers improved to 3-1 against Arkansas this season. Arkansas allowed double-figure runs for the eighth time this season, including twice against LSU.

Benintendi, the SEC's player of the year, went 0 for 4 on two groundouts and two fly outs to fall to 1 for 12 in Hoover and .395 for the season. Nomura had singles in his first two at-bats and went 2 for 4 to improve to 6 for 13 at the tournament. Eagan went 2 for 4 and scored 2 runs in the leadoff spot.

The LSU shortstop Bregman had an RBI single, two sacrifice flies, scored a run and made the game's top defensive play by laying out to snare a line drive off Wernes' bat in the eighth. Left fielder Jake Fraley scored three runs for the Tigers, while second baseman Jared Foster had 2 doubles among his 3 hits and 2 runs.

Sports on 05/22/2015