Before Friday night’s game one against the Texas Longhorns, LSU baseball held a 21-1 record, their best start to a season since 1986. On the road, two two-run middle innings were enough to give the Tigers the 8-2 victory on Friday. That win secured LSU’s best-ever start to a season and a 4-0 start in SEC conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Leadoff Derek Curiel walked and advanced to second base after Texas starting pitcher Jared Spencer tossed a wild pitch. Spencer previously struck out Jared Jones and Daniel Dickinson. Steven Milam was the final out after whiffing on a 0-2 count.
Kade Anderson began on the mound for LSU and allowed a single to Max Belyeu before ringing up Jalin Flores and Rylan Galvan for the final two out of the opening frame.
After an empty second inning, the Longhorns took the first lead at the bottom of the third. Will Gasparino reached first on a bunt and reached second base after Belyeu hit a two-out infield single. Flores then drove in Gasparino with an RBI single left field to give Texas the one-run lead. Anderson struck out Galvan to end the inning.
The Tigers responded at the top of the fourth. Josh Pearson began the inning with a walk and Luis Hernandez hit a two-run homer over the left-field wall to give LSU the lead. Curiel doubled out in left but was stranded after Jones struck out on a 2-2 count.
The lead grew in the fifth for the Bayou Bengals as Dickinson and Ethan Frey led off with singles in center and left field. Milam hit a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners and Pearson brought home Dickinson with a sacrifice fly. Hernandez followed that up with an RBI single to push the Tiger lead to 4-1 heading to the bottom of the frame.
Texas made the switch at pitcher in the sixth to Andre Duplantier II. Spencer finished the day with seven hits and four runs allowed in five innings on the mound. Duplantier hit Curiel with a pitch and walked Dickinson but forced a pair of flyouts by Chris Stanfield and Jones. The redshirt senior pitcher closed out by striking out Jake Brown, who pinch-hit for Frey.
Galvan cut into LSU’s lead in the bottom of the sixth when he hit a solo home run over the right-center field wall. Anderson concluded his night by retiring Casey Borba. The sophomore out of Madisonville, Louisiana finished his Friday outing with eight K’s and two runs allowed in six innings on the mound.
LSU blew the game open in the seventh. Milam began the frame with his first hit of the evening with a single out in left and advanced to third when Hernandez recorded his third hit of the game. Michael Braswell III’s RBI bunt scored Milam and moved Hernandez to second, then Stanfield’s double down the infield line put runners on the corners and allowed Hernandez to get home. Jones followed that up with an RBi hit into right field that scored Stanfield and Braswell. Those flurry of runs forced Texas to make a change at pitcher to Cody Howard, who struck out Brown to send it to the seventh inning stretch, but not before the Tigers took the six-run advantage.
Zac Cowan replaced Anderson to open the bottom of the seventh and started hot by punching out the first two batters he faced. Texas leadoff hitter Ethan Mendoza reached on a fielding error by Milam and Belyeu hit another single but a flyout by Flores closed out the inning.
Texas was held scoreless the rest of the way and LSU walked away with the 8-2 win on Friday. That win improved the Tigers’ record to 22-1 and 4-0 in SEC play.
BIG NUMBER: 22
Heading into Friday night’s matchup, the LSU baseball team matched their best start to a season in program history, winning 21 out of their first 22 games. The last and only other time that happened was back in 1986. The Tigers’ win over the Longhorns to open the series set a new record for LSU as this is the first time the program has ever started a season 22-1.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Kade Anderson & Luis Hernandez
LSU’s Friday night starter was sharp vs Texas as he finished the night with eight strikeouts and two runs allowed in six innings of work. Anderson didn’t walk a batter and did so throwing a season-high 101 pitches. Luis Hernandez also came up big for the Tigers, going 3-3 in Austin, driving in three runs and scoring two more. That led to the Bayou Bengals improving to 22-1 on the season with the 8-2 win over the Longhorns.
UP NEXT: The LSU Tigers baseball team will return to action tomorrow evening for game two of their three-game set against the Longhorns. First pitch from Disch-Falk Field is set for 6:00 and the Fighting Tigers can be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette 104.1 Lake Charles.