No. 1 LSU posted its 10th straight win and second three-game sweep of the season on Sunday, defeating Samford 13–1 to cap off the weekend. While this was the first game of the series where the Tigers were forced to bat in the seventh inning, the contest wouldn’t remain close for long.
After posting its first run since the third inning of Friday’s game, Samford entered the seventh inning down three with a strong chance to make things interesting if its defense continued to hinder the LSU batting room. It had held the Tigers to three hitless innings through the first four and had similar success through the first few innings of Friday’s matchup.
Much like two evenings ago, that didn’t last.
With one out logged, Tommy White approached home plate with the bases loaded and four home runs on the season up to that point. When he landed a hit on the ball, he already knew it was going over.
“You tell me,” White laughed when asked if he knew it was a homerun right away. “I knew I got that one.”
That marked the fifth home run for the transfer and the first grand slam for the Tigers since May 21 of last year, when Brayden Jobert hit one in a series against Vanderbilt. It also pretty much marked the end of the contest, as they stole every ounce of momentum the Bulldogs had left.
They gained a seven-run lead with the grand slam before logging an RBI from freshman Jared Jones, then a three-run shot from freshman Paxton Kling to seal the deal.
Despite another seemingly non-stressful performance from the LSU baseball team apart from its early struggles on offense, head coach Jay Johnson did not see this as one that should conclude that way. He was incredibly impressed with his team’s poise when the game was tight.
“We had a meeting when it was 2-0 in the fifth and I was like ‘Okay, this is a difficult game. You guys have made it look easy but that doesn’t change the nature of baseball,’” Johnson said. “These guys have been very disciplined since August and mentally strong to where it doesn’t get away from them too often. And that’s hard.”
Along with White, Dylan Crews also attributed his fifth homer of the season to get the Tigers on the board in the third, logging his fourteenth straight game with a hit and showing why he’s projected as the top pick in the 2023 draft.
“I try not to take it for granted, playing with him,” pitcher Thatcher Hurd said on Crews when asked about having him at centerfield. “He’s a special play and it’s fun to watch.”
In LSU’s sweep of Samford, it beat the Bulldogs by a combined score of 36-2, activating the mercy rule in each game and only having to bat in the seventh inning once. It’s looking like it’s going to enter SEC play on fire, with just one game left between now and its series against Texas A&M this upcoming weekend.
