LSU beat Texas State 10-5 on Sunday in Houston, TX and were crowned the champions of the Astros Foundation College Classic.
The Tigers win margin of five runs was the tiebreaker between them and Vanderbilt, who also went undefeated throughout. The victory came much thanks to an explosive offense that Texas State struggled to stay in pace with. LSU finished with 19 hits on the game.
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The Tigers started slow, with left fielder Josh Pearson’s solo home run being the only number on the board for LSU through the first three innings.
The momentum started to shift in the fourth inning, when at-bats became more explosive. Five hits and three walks gave the Tigers a 6-0 lead. The Bobcats used four different arms on the mound throughout the inning.
Texas State got its first three runs of the game in the top of the fifth inning. With two outs, starting pitcher Thatcher Hurd allowed a series of hits. Two shaky plays–both of which would have secured the third out–by Michael Braswell at shortstop kept the top of the inning going a bit longer than LSU had intended. Hurd, however, took the inning into his own hands, sending the Tiger defense back into their dugout with a strikeout. His performance earned him his first win of the season.
Back-to-back-to-back doubles by Brady Neal, Hayden Travinski and Steven Milam added two runs in the sixth inning.
LSU got the rest of its runs in the eighth inning off of four hits, including an RBI-single from Ashton Larson, who was a pinch hitter for Jake Brown.
After coming in for Christian Little in the seventh inning, Javen Coleman struggled to put the game away in the ninth. Coleman walked three before being replaced by DJ Primeaux. Primeaux was swiftly replaced by Gavin Guidry after allowing a two-run single. Guidry struck out the last batter to secure the win for the Tigers.
Despite inconsistent arms, LSU’s hitting helped the team complete an undefeated weekend in Houston. Six different batters finished the game with multiple hits: Pearson, White, Neal, Travinski, Milam and Brown.
Freshmen Milam and Brown are continuing to prove their reliability as hitters. Between the two, they had five hits and three RBIs. Milam and Brown hold the first and fourth best averages on the team respectively, among players with over 20 at-bats.
Head coach Jay Johnson showed confidence in Pearson by placing him at second in the order, despite a slower start to the season. Pearson delivered, going 3-5 with a home run.
The dominant win over Texas State, along with the rest of its weekend performance, shut down any doubters of LSU’s offense.
