Another Friday night start, another gem by LSU junior ace Aaron Nola.
LSU (26-8-1, 7-5-1 Southeastern Conference) entered its three-game series against SEC rival Arkansas (21-14, 6-7 SEC) on a five-game winning streak, and Tigers’ coach Paul Mainieri trusted his stud junior to set the tone in a 5-3 victory in Alex Box Stadium.
Nola stepped to the mound in the top of the first inning and proceeded to gun down one Razorback after the next.
Nola struck out the final Razorback batter in six of his seven frames pitched, and the Baton Rouge native finished with a career-high 13 strikeouts.
“If you’ve watched every game this year like I have, that’s what he does,” Mainieri said. “That’s what I talked about when the guy raises his game to another level when he needs it the most. It’s no accident. He makes big pitch after big pitch.”
He said his two-strike pitch was working Friday night.
“Everything was working pretty well,” Nola said. “I definitely was feeling pretty good, and my arm was feeling good. I felt really confident in whatever [LSU pitching coach Alan] Dunn called.”
Nola made only two mistakes all night – he surrendered a solo home run to Arkansas junior first baseman Eric Fisher in the top of the fifth and walked redshirt sophomore center fielder Tyler Spoon before departing in the top of the eighth.
LSU junior southpaw Zac Person entered the game in the top of the eighth, but the Eunice, La., native allowed an RBI double and surrendered a walk. Junior closer Joe Broussard proceeded to come on and toss 1 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball to close out the series opener.
It was the second time Broussard has gone multiple frames to record a save. Friday’s was his eighth of the season.
Offensively, LSU got on the board early after senior left fielder Sean McMullen led off the bottom of the first with a walk. Sophomore right fielder Mark Laird proceeded to reach after a throwing error by Arkansas redshirt sophomore shortstop Michael Bernal.
Sophomore shortstop Alex Bregman then roped a pitch up the middle for a two-RBI single.
“I was just fortunate enough to put a good swing on it, and then you know when you get an early lead with Aaron Nola on the mound, you’re in good shape,” Bregman said.
McMullen later hit a two-run home run over the left field wall, his fourth of the season.