Heading into the top of the ninth, the fans at Alex Box Stadium were anticipating history in the making from Jared Poche.
Up to that point, he had not allowed a hit through 15 innings and was on the verge of having back-to-back no hitters. However, when Zach Jancarski came up to lead off the 9th inning he hit a single to Josh Smith to get the first hit of the game. This didn’t rain on the Tigers (6-1) parade as they pounded away at Maryland (1-4) in a 14-0 victory.
In the first two innings, LSU would put up two runs in each. The onslaught of runs would really begin in the bottom of the third. Rankin Woley started things off with an RBI triple to make it 5-0. The Tigers would end up scoring six more runs in the inning capped off by Jake Slaughter hitting a two-run double, making it 11-0.
Beau Jordan would make it 12-0 in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single to right field and Nick Coomes would put the final nail in the coffin with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh.
Poche improved to 2-0 allowing one hit, walked two, and six strikeouts in eight innings of work.
The Tigers will look for the sweep on Sunday with first pitch set for 11 am.
-Clint Domingue