BATON ROUGE — In a game delayed by more than five hours due to inclement weather at Alex Box Stadium, LSU opened up the Baton Rouge Regional with a convincing 7-0 victory over Little Rock. The Tigers move on to the winner’s side of the bracket.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
LSU struck first in the bottom of the first as Derek Curiel led off with a single up the middle. He would advance to second on a wild pitch and score on a two-out single by Jake Brown. After the first inning, LSU held a 1-0 lead. In the second inning, the Tigers added to their lead as Chris Stanfield singled to left field, advanced to second base on a wild pitch, and then crossed home after a single by Jared Jones to left field.
LSU added to its lead in the bottom of the fifth when Daniel Dickinson hit a one-out home run over the left field wall.
The Tigers blew the game open in the sixth inning. Stanfield drew a one-out walk and then scored on a double to right center by Curiel. Moments later, Dickinson hit a two-run home run with two outs to give the Tigers a 6-0 lead over the Trojans.
Jay Johnson’s squad pushed a run across in the seventh when Steven Milam hit a double to left field and then scored two batters later on a double by Michael Braswell III.
That was plenty of run support as LSU’s pitching staff gave up zero runs, only five hits, and walked only one batter in nine innings of work.
BIG NUMBER: 11
LSU’s lineup, which struggled at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, came roaring to life in Friday’s game, recording seven runs on 11 hits. Eight different Tigers recorded hits on Friday.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME: DANIEL DICKINSON & ANTHONY EYANSON
Dickinson went 2-for-5 with two runs, three RBI, and one home run in the Tigers’ victory. Eyanson pitched seven and two-thirds of shutout baseball, giving up only five hits while striking out seven Little Rock hitters.
UP NEXT: LSU (44-14) will play the winner of the Dallas Baptist vs. Rhode Island game. The Tigers will not play that game until Saturday night. Time TBD. The game can be listened to live on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles — Southwest Louisiana’s Sports Station.