Though it wasn’t quite the firestorm the last matchup was, LSU’s second game against Central Connecticut State produced the same level of success on both sides of the ball.
The Tigers quickly found their way on the scoreboard and once they built a cushion, they never allowed the Blue Devils to cut into it, earning their third shutout of the season with a 13-0 victory.
That cushion began being built from the get-go. After two walks and an error got Tre Morgan and Gavin Dugas to second and third base respectively, Dylan Crews cracked a fair ball down the left foul line, resulting in a double and two RBIs to put LSU on the board.
Jordan Thompson followed that up with a double and RBI of his own, then Brayden Jobert plated Tommy White on an RBI groundout to conclude the first inning.
The scoring from there was sound but sporadic, with the team putting up four and five runs in the fourth and sixth innings respectively and going scoreless in the remaining three. Much of that success was due to LSU’s ability to draw out walks and consistently hit doubles, which head coach Jay Johnson credited to his players’ patience and ability to effectively determine which pitches were worth swinging at.
“To hit a double, you have to get a good pitch to hit, and so you have to recognize mistakes and you can’t swing the balls,” head coach Jay Johnson said. “If you’re not swinging at them, then you’re walking and if you’re funneling the pitcher into the zone, you give yourself a better chance of having an extra base hit.”
The fourth inning was much like the first, with LSU once again starting the period with two on base thanks to walks and capitalizing from there. Tre Morgan and Gavin Dugas contributed back-to-back RBIs, then White finished the period off with two of his own thanks to an error from Central Connecticut State before getting out at second.
It wouldn’t take much more for the Tigers to crack the mercy-rule threshold, which it did with a Cade Beloso homer in the sixth and the two RBIs that came with it. That was Beloso’s second home run of the season and Johnson believes his success so far reflects just how deep this team is.
“He’s a guy I want to get more at-bats for,” Johnson said on Beloso. “[On Saturday], we literally had 10 quality at-bats in a row from guys who didn’t start the game.”
After that home run, the Tigers would put up a few more assurance points before handing the defense a chance to end the game early. Though the defense had bent a few times, it had yet to surrender a single run, and that would ring true through Central Connecticut’s last segment at bat.
Those instances of bending occurred in the fourth and sixth inning. LSU’s two most critical moments on defense each involved late-inning switches at pitcher while dealing with loaded bases.
Freshman pitcher Chase Shores started on Sunday and though he pitched a solid first three innings, he quickly found himself in a rough spot in the fourth. With Central Connecticut State having three on base for the first time all game, the coaching staff opted to send in JUCO-transfer Nate Ackenhausen, who promptly struck out the next Blue Devil at bat to get the Tigers out of a hole.
Then, after freshman Griffin Herring struggled out the gate on the mound and quickly found himself with loaded bases, they sent in Garrett Edwards, who quickly went to work ending the inning.
Johnson wasn’t ecstatic about using five pitchers in seven innings, but he was excited about each reliever’s performances. He described Ackenhausen as confident with a vast array of switch-ups, both qualities that make a great pitcher. Then he discussed how Edwards prospered in a similar situation last Sunday against Sam Houston, where he gave up just one run through 3.1 innings.
“It’s two times in a row that he’s coming in with the bases loaded and got out of it, with no damage today and minimal damage last Sunday,” Johnson said. “Now the next frontier for him is will he be able to bounce back quickly.”
LSU wraps up it four-day, four-game stretch tomorrow, facing off against Butler to round out its series with them. It previously defeated the Bulldogs 12-2 on Friday.
