After a 10-7 win over Kent State on Lundi Gras, the undefeated LSU Tiger baseball team welcomed in the Nicholls Colonels for a midweek matchup. An early scoring output by the defending national champs was more than enough for them to take down Nicholls 12-1 and improve to 5-0 on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Nicholls jumped out to an early lead to open the game. Casey Artigues hit an infield pop-up on LSU starting pitcher Zac Cowan’s first pitch. Nico Rijo-Berger followed that up with a solo home run into the Left Field Landing. Cowan finished the opening frame with a couple more hits allowed and a pair of strikeouts.
LSU had a grand first go at it from the plate. After Derek Curiel led off with a flyout in center field, Steven Milam singled, and Jake Brown doubled to put runners in scoring position. Then, with two outs, Milam scored on a wild pitch before Zach Yorke and Seth Dardar walked to load the bases. Trent Caraway brought everyone home with a grand slam, giving the Tigers a 5-1 lead after one inning.
Cowan only lasted 1.1 innings for the Tigers before getting replaced by Dax Dathe in the second. LSU’s starting pitcher finished the day with three hits allowed and two K’s.
The Bayou Bengals added on to their lead at the bottom of the second when Brown hit a sacrifice grounder to second base, allowing nine-hole hitter Mason Braun to score. Leading up to that point, Braun and Curiel walked before Nicholls made a pitching change from Will Mabry to Tyler Avery.
Zion Theophilus came in relief for Dathe in the third inning and recorded his first collegiate strikeouts in the following inning, retiring Hudson Mattox to send the game to the bottom of the frame.
The next three and a half innings didn’t feature much offense. The only hit was from Dardar back in the third, and four pitching changes between both teams. The scoring drought ended at the bottom of the sixth.
Tanner Reaves led the frame for LSU with a single into right field. After a flyout by Braun, Nicholls elected to change pitchers from Eli Waters to Joseph Bordelon, who forced Curiel into a center field pop fly before walking Milam to put runners on first and second. Brown then hit an RBI single, and then Milam put up another run on a wild pitch by Bordelon. An Arrambide walk was enough for Bordelon to get replaced on the mound by Caleb Dyess. Yorke was walked to load the bases, and all three runners were stranded on a Dardar flyout. The Tigers were ahead 8-1 through six innings.
LSU plated another run in the seventh. Daniel Harden pinch-hit for Caraway and reached on a throwing error by the Colonels’ shortstop. Harden advanced on a wild pitch and then scored on another fielding error, this time by the second baseman, Keegan Giger.
The Tigers closed out the game at the bottom of the eighth courtesy of some pinch-hitting late. Brayden Simpson doubled, Omar Serna Jr walked, and John Pearson walked it off with a three-run blast into the Left Field Landing, winning the game for LSU 12-1. The win improved the Tigers’ record to 5-0 in the young season.
BIG NUMBER: 18
Even with the high-scoring output by LSU, there were still opportunities for the game to have ended with a larger score. Between both teams, there were 18 left on base, 11 by Nicholls and seven by the Bayou Bengals.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Trent Caraway
Back in the first inning, Caraway put up a four-spot with a grand slam. That was Caraway’s lone hit on three at-bats, but it jump-started LSU’s offense to win 12-1 on Wednesday.
UP NEXT: The defending champion Tigers will travel to Jacksonville, Florida, for a weekend tournament, the Jax College Baseball Classic. LSU’s first opponent will be the Indiana Hoosiers. First pitch from VyStar Ballpark is scheduled for 1:00 PM, and the action can be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles.