The LSU Tigers headed into the Eugene regional looking to not let head coach Paul Mainieri down a week after he announced his plans to retire after this season.
However, the Tigers are now just one loss away from being eliminated after Alek Jacob threw a fantastic ballgame and shut out the LSU Tigers on the way to a 3-0 win for Gonzaga.
How It Happened:
The Bulldogs struck some fear into LSU’s hearts early on in the contest with Ernie Yake and Brett Harris leading off the bottom of the first with a pair of singles, but the Tigers got out of trouble after Andrew Orzel grounded into a double-play to end the inning.
However, Gonzaga was able to break the stalemate in the bottom of the second inning. After a leadoff triple from Grayson Sterling, Guthrie Morrison had a well-hit single to take an early 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, Yake gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead with a double down the right-field line to bring home Morrison.
LSU had a chance to get on the board in the top of the fourth with Dylan Crews hitting a leadoff triple to left-center, but the Tigers left them loaded much like they did against the Georgia Bulldogs last week in Hoover after Giovanni DiGiacomo flew out to center field.
Gonzaga was able to add a little more insurance to their lead in the bottom of the sixth courtesy of an RBI single from Harris, scoring Jack Machtolf.
Big Number: 9
The Tigers offense was offline late Friday night, striking out nine times against Gonzaga’s ace.
Player of the Game: Alek Jacob
The Bulldogs ace just had more stuff compared to the rest of LSU’s pitching staff. Jacob threw the second complete game of his career, not allowing a hit after the fifth inning.
Next Up: Saturday vs Central Connecticut State; First Pitch at 3 pm