BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers opened up Southeastern Conference play on Friday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium with a 12-5 victory over the Missouri Tigers.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Missouri struck first in the top of the second inning.
Brock Daniels hit a one-out single into right field and then Jackson Lovich lifted the first pitch he saw from Kade Anderson into the right-field bleachers. Anderson got out of the inning by getting Keegan Knutson to strike out swinging and Trey Lawrence to fly out.
LSU’s bats then even the score in the bottom part of the frame as Josh Pearson led off by being hit by a pitch. Luis Hernandez then stepped to the plate and hit a two-run blast that sailed over the left-centerfield wall.
LSU broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Pearson led off with a single to left field and was joined on the base paths by Michael Braswell who was hit by a pitch. Chris Stanfield would load the bases as he drew a walk on four pitches. Derek Curiel then laced a triple into right field that cleared the bases.
Jared Jones was then hit by a pitch which prompted a pitching change and then Curiel scored on a groundout by Dickinson. Jones would then score on a single to right field by Jake Brown.
LSU added to its lead in the sixth after Brown hit a two-out double to left field that scored two more runs.
Missouri plated a few runs in the seventh and eighth innings.
Lovich scored on a fly out to center field in the seventh, and then Kaden Peer and Mateo Serna hit back-to-back solo home runs in the eighth.
LSU got those runs back in the bottom of the eighth. Brown had a fly out that drove in a run and Steven Milam hit a two-run home run.
BIG NUMBER: 7
LSU scored 12 runs on nine hits and those hits were spread out through the lineup. The Tigers had seven different hitters record at least one hit in Friday night’s SEC opening game.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME: KADE ANDERSON & JAKE BROWN
Anderson recovered nicely from the two-run home run he gave up in the second inning. The LSU ace ended the game giving up only two runs on four hits while striking out 11 hitters. LSU’s designated hitter meanwhile went 2-for-4 at the plate with 3 RBI and a double.
UP NEXT: LSU (18-1, 1-0) hosts Missouri in the second game of the weekend series at Alex Box Stadium. The first pitch is set for 6 p.m. and can be heard live on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles — Southwest Louisiana’s Sports Station.