LSU baseball started its last series of the regular season strong with a dominant 13-2 win over Vanderbilt.
The Tigers set the tone early, scoring six runs in the second inning highlighted by home runs from Jordan Thompson and Dylan Crews. LSU’s power was the story of the game offensively, with the Tigers hitting five long balls on the night. This total put LSU at 100 home runs on the season, delivering on the preseason expectation of the power in the lineup.
Crews and Cade Doughty were the top performers at the plate, accounting for seven runs between the two of them. Crews was 4-4 on the night including a three-run home run, a double and four RBIs. Doughty homered twice and had three RBIs, this being just the second two-home run game of his career. Brayden Jobert added a home run as well, capping off a complete and collaborative effort at the plate by the Tigers’ lineup.
The pitching did its job again for LSU in this game too, led by starter Ma’Khail Hilliard who pitched 5.1 innings allowing just one earned run and struck out four batters. Hilliard has been solid all season as the opening night starter and today was no different as he added sixth win of the year improving his record on the mound to 6-1. He set the stage for Eric Reyzelman who pitched the remaining 3.2 innings. In that time, Reyzelman did not allow a single run or hit and struck out six batters while only walking one.
“I’m really proud of our guys tonight,” LSU Head Coach Jay Johnson said after the game. “You could tell in the first inning they were focused and locked in, and they executed our game plan perfectly. We’ve got 100 homers and over 100 hit-by-pitches now, and that’s exactly what we want to do. A great job tonight by the pitching staff, and offensively we were in tune with what we needed to do tonight.”
The efforts both at the plate and on the mound helped LSU gain a crucial game one victory over a talented Vanderbilt team. With LSU likely needing to win the series to have a chance at hosting a regional, taking home game one in dominant fashion is a perfect start. The Tigers will look to keep that momentum going in game two as they will return to action against the Commodores at 6 p.m. The game will be streaming live on SEC Network+.
