Jay Johnson said Wednesday that if Ma’Khail Hilliard could pitch every day, he would—Thursday, Friday and Saturday. He joked with Hilliard that he needs to get ready to pitch 100 pitches every day this weekend.
Thursday night showed that the faith Johnson has in his starter is wholly justified. Hilliard dominated for seven innings and gave up just two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts. He threw 104 pitches, his most of the season. It was his best outing of the season on a night where LSU needed to get off on the right foot for this series, tallying a 5-3 victory.
Hilliard was in control of the plate for most of the night, commanding his fastball and mixing in his breaking ball and changeup to confuse hitters. He was occasionally leaving his pitches up before the fourth inning, but Hilliard explained that he knew what he needed to do, and he just needed to deliver. He initiated some weak contact but also generated strikeouts. Hilliard was aided by some nice defensive plays around the diamond as well. It was a near complete performance for the fifth-year senior.
“It was a 2-2 game in the fourth, and he gave up another two out double,” Johnson said. “Seemed like that happened three innings in a row. He made a nice physical adjustment to get on top of the ball and started working downhill. It was over from that point forward.”
“After that double, that switch flipped, and it took me to a different mode,” Hilliard said. “Get the ball down and not try to get them all out on one pitch.”
On the other side of the innings, Jacob Berry was the story at the plate. He mashed two home runs in his first two at-bats to tie the game at 2-2 through three innings and added a single that gave way to Cade Doughty to come to the plate with two runners on. Doughty laced a double down the third base line that scored Dylan Crews, and Tre’ Morgan followed them up with a sky-high chopper that got over Missouri first baseman Torin Montgomery’s head and into right field. LSU held strong with those five runs onward.
“Hitting is contagious,” Berry said. “I don’t know if there’s a more true saying in the country. We’ve got a lot of great hitters in our lineup, a lot of special players. You just piggyback off somebody else’s energy, and the team gets rolling quickly.”
“That’s a Barry Bonds-type game right there,” Johnson said of Berry. “He’s as good as anybody in the country and has the maturity to stay pitch to pitch and stay focused on the next one.”
Eric Reyzelman and Paul Gervase combined to finish the game off in the eighth and ninth innings. Reyzelman gave up one run but picked up two outs in the eighth and Gervase took over the rest. It was Gervase’s third save of the season.
Beyond Hilliard, LSU will need other starters to step up and bring performances like he did on Thursday night. Blake Money will give it a shot Friday night in a chance to win the series, and it looks like Samuel Dutton will get the start for Saturday’s game three.
There was no appearance from Gavin Dugas or Alex Milazzo, who are both attempting to recover from injuries. LSU will have most of their bullpen to work with brief appearances from the few pitchers who made appearances for the remainder of the weekend.
Tomorrow’s first pitch will be for 6:00 p.m. The game will be televised on SECN+ and available on the LSU Sports Radio Network.