LSU baseball passed a big midweek test against Lamar on Wednesday night.
The Cardinals came into the game with a respectable 10-2 record and a SEC victory over Texas A&M on their resume.
Junior right-handed pitcher Christian Little started on the mound for LSU which was his fifth appearance of the season. Senior left-handed pitcher Quinn Waterhouse was named the starter for Lamar which was his fourth appearance of the season. Both pitchers came into the contest with a 1-0 record.
LSU’s bats strung a few hits together early and never looked back. Waterhouse didn’t remain in the game for more than two innings, which began a pitching carousel by Lamar where they used seven pitchers in eight innings.
After center fielder Dylan Crews walked on four balls, sophomore designated hitter Tommy White smacked an RBI double off the right field wall to put LSU on the board in the first inning.
“I knew as soon as I hit that first one that Dylan was going to score. I know how he plays, and he is going to read that ball and it’s going to be a run. I was swinging at too many pitches the first couple of weekends. Now, I am trying to narrow down my zone a little bit and swing at some pitches I can drive”, White said referring to LSU’s first run.
Freshman catcher Brady Neal added another LSU run when he hit a ground ball to Lamar’s second baseman, and he was unable to control it. White scored in the process to make the score 2-0 through the first inning.
LSU’s starter, Little, had a solid outing despite being capped at 60 pitches according to head coach Jay Johnson. He threw 56 pitches in four innings with three strikeouts and allowed four hits with one run. Little was credited with his second win of the season and finished with a 0.77 ERA.
The one-two punch of Crews and White came through again in the second inning. Crews lined an RBI single up the middle that scored senior second baseman Gavin Dugas. The next batter, White crushed a three-run home run down the right field line and extended LSU’s lead to six.
“Offensively, I thought we had a great set of quality at-bats. We walked eight times, we were hit with a few pitches, and we really cashed in on those with runners in scoring position. I’m really pleased with the performance all the way around.”
LSU didn’t score again until the seventh inning, but Lamar responded with a solo home run from senior catcher Ryan Snell in the fourth inning. The Cardinals’ second and last run was unearned.
In the sixth inning, junior right fielder Luke Bumpus singled to left field and scored Snell, who was walked. Snell was in scoring position because of an error by junior third baseman Ben Nippolt, LSU’s only error of the game.
Junior right-handed pitcher Will Hellmers made a swift 1.1 inning appearance in the fifth inning and then junior right-hander Garret Edwards came into the game. Edwards looked comfortable on the mound and didn’t allow a run through the final three innings.
Credited with his first save and a 1.00 ERA, Edwards fired 44 pitches with two strikeouts and only allowed two hits. According to Edwards, his work with pitching coach Wes Johnson and an increase of 15-20 pounds is the reason for his improvement from last season.
LSU’s offense extended the lead even further when freshman right fielder Paxton Kling lasered a solo home run to left center, the second home run of his collegiate career. Junior catcher Alex Milazzo and junior shortstop Jordan Thompson both recorded RBIs in the eigth inning to make the final score 9-2.
“It was a really complete win,” said Johnson. “It started on the mound, Christian Little did a great job, along with Will Hellmers and Garrett Edwards in relief. We knew Lamar would put the ball in play a lot, and I thought we were outstanding on defense. Ben Nippolt and Jordan Thompson were a big story in this game in how well they defended the left side of the infield.”
LSU baseball leads the country in fielding with a 0.992 percentage and in shutouts with four. The Tigers are eighth in batting average, fourth in on base percentage, sixth in scoring compared to the rest of the country.
LSU baseball will return to action this weekend with a three-game series against Samford at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field. Game one of the series will begin at 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday, March 10.
