The LSU Tigers shook up Maine’s defense today at Alex Box Stadium, racking up 17 runs against Maine’s eight. The Tiger offense was unstoppable, and the lineup was able to get in at least one run every inning until the eighth. Out of 17 hits, three were home runs, but they could be accounted for by only two players.
Transfer sophomore Jacob Berry followed Head Coach Jay Johnson to Baton Rouge from Arizona, a program where he led the Pac-12 in RBI, triples, total bases, and extra-base hits. The solid switch-hitter had a sort of expectation to live up to when coming to LSU, and in the pre-season, Berry seemed to be acclimating well to the polarizing change of the place he called home.
Opening weekend started off pretty slow for Berry. Out of five at-bats, he only managed to get on base once, also striking out twice. The pace and atmosphere change, along with the nerves that accompany the first game of any season were most likely the cause of this mini slump. For game two though, Berry had obviously decided that he wanted his at-bats to be worth something. And worth it they were.
Berry stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the sixth and sent a bomb directly to LSU’s student section, sailing over the right field wall to the students that encourage him when he stands in that position. The best part about this hit, though, is that in his very next at-bat in the bottom of the seventh, he decided that he wanted to do it again.
Berry has been living a dream he probably didn’t realize he even had before he put on that purple and gold uniform. His time so far in Alex Box Stadium, however, has been everything he could’ve wanted and more. Those home runs today? They were just the icing on the metaphorical cake.
“It’s just been amazing to be out here the last few days, and obviously, those hits were definitely a plus today, that’s for sure,” Berry explained.
Cade Doughty, the second baseman, took credit for the first homerun of the game. He told the media in the post-game press conference to make sure they took note of his predictions on Berry’s at-bats.
“I was fired up for him and I actually called both of them before he went to the plate, so make sure you write that down,” Doughty laughed. “I believed in him 100%, and I’m just glad he didn’t prove me wrong.”
When coming into game two, Berry did his best to focus on what he could do better, rather than on the cracks in his plate performances from the day before.
“I really just tried to have a competitive at-bat,” Berry explained. “I just tried to find the barrel. I wanted to try not to make it too complicated, but more just trying to find ways to have a productive at-bat. And just standing back and staying inside of the ball is what really helped.”
When discussing Berry’s performance, Johnson says he didn’t even blink when his player connected with a ball that would fly over the right field wall, even after he did it twice in a row.
“I’ve seen so much of it,” Johnson explained, “that I don’t even think of it that way. It was a great performance. I think for me, great hitters make adjustments between pitches and bats, and he makes them quickly. [Berry] has a really good mindset, and I think he is just starting to paint a good picture of who he is, which was awesome.”
Berry’s outstanding at-bats were just a small look into what LSU’s offense was able to do in game two today. In just game two, the team racked up 17 hits, adding to the 12 from game one. This type of offense has been unseen from LSU for a while now.
“It doesn’t really matter how we are in the order,” Berry said when discussing the Tiger’s offense. “Everybody’s productive, and everybody’s going to move the offense. That’s kind of the key to what we have been doing the last few days, and that’s the key to our success moving forward. We’re playing towards the offense, and we want to score as many runs as we possibly can.”
Fans will get to see if this explosive offense from LSU will continue as tomorrow they will face Maine once more for the final game of opening weekend at Alex Box Stadium. The gametime is 1 p.m. CT and fans at home can catch the game live on ESPN.
