by Barca Blog (Photo by Jimmy Jones)
Joe Loftus capped off his monster weekend in dramatic fashion.
His two-run single with two outs in the eighth propelled Vanderbilt to a
series-clinching 4-3 win over LSU on Sunday in Baton Rouge.
"All weekend their closers were just trying to put in that first pitch breaking ball. I seemed to get down in the count whenever I took it, so I decided to jump on the first pitch I got. It was right down the middle of the plate and I put it into play and it got through," Loftus said about his game-winning hit.
In three games against the Tigers, Loftus went 6-for-14 (.429) with two doubles, a triple, a homer, 7 RBI and four runs scored.
The Commodores (35-13, 12-10 SEC) also captured their first conference road series on the season, an impressive feat after their heartbreaking loss on Friday. They moved one game ahead of the Tigers (34-15, 12-12) for sixth place in the standings.
"Our team is really tight and really close," Loftus added. "It's obviously tough to lose a 16-15 game on a Friday night. We just talked as a team and decided to shake that loss off and come back tomorrow. We played well (on Friday), but you're going to lose in baseball. You've just got to keep battling every day as a team.
"We know we're in every single game this year, and I think that's something good about this team. We know we can come back and win games. We're just playing well right now and hoping we can keep this going."
