The LSU baseball team flexed its muscles after a seventh-inning stretch. 
Junior first baseman Chris Chinea smoked a leadoff home run to blow open a two-run game in the seventh, and No. 1 LSU completed its season-sweep of Tulane with a 6-0 victory Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium.
Tuesday’s game marked the third time this season LSU (35-6) shut out an opponent, but it was the fifth time this season the Green Wave (24-16) failed to score a run. 
LSU jumped ahead in the first inning after consecutive two-out doubles from junior shortstop Alex Bregman and senior third baseman Conner Hale. But the Tigers tallied just three hits over the next five innings before Chinea blasted one over the left-center field fence.  
LSU’s mid-game slump slightly panicked coach Paul Mainieri, who  said he wondered whether his club was more focused on its next opponent — No. 2 Texas A&M — than in-state foe Tulane. 
“I was a little worried they were looking beyond tonight,” Mainieri said. 
But the game turned against Tulane after Chinea’s sixth homer of the season.  
The Green Wave surrendered three consecutive singles after Chinea’s solo shot, and senior designated hitter Chris Sciambra gave the Tigers a four-run cushion with a base hit to right field. Hale then sealed Tulane’s fate with a two-run single to right to put LSU ahead by six. 
Hale blasted the Green Wave staff all night, batting 3-for-4 with a season-high tying three RBIs. Sciambra also drove in a pair of runs in the leadoff spot. 
LSU freshman pitcher Austin Bain (1-1, 3.07 ERA) picked up his first win in his second start of the season. But Bain was limited to just two innings before Mainieri went to the bullpen, which was well-rested after inclement weather limited the Tigers to two games against Georgia last weekend.
LSU’s bullpen didn’t give up a hit in seven scoreless innings. Freshman pitcher Jake Godfrey equaled Bain in innings pitched with two and retired the sides in the fourth and fifth frames. Freshman closer Jesse Stallings was the last of eight relievers to take the mound for the Tigers and struck out Tulane sophomore outfielder Lex Kaplan to end the game. 
As a whole, LSU’s staff held Tulane to a season-low one hit in 27 at-bats (.037), marking the first time the Tigers limited an opponent to one hit all year. Only six Green Wave batters reached base, and senior centerfielder John Gandolfo was the lone Tulane runner to safely make it to second. 
“The pitching staff played out exactly the way we had hoped it would, maybe even a little bit better,” Mainieri said. 
The only LSU pitcher to give up a hit was Bain. His teammates made sure he
knew. 
“I’ve already [heard] a few jokes, and I haven’t even made it to the locker room yet,” Bain said. 
The Tigers finished with 11 hits, but six came in their final two innings at the plate. Senior catcher Kade Scivicque went 0-for-3, ending his hitting streak at 23 games, and junior outfielder Mark Laird also went hitless in four plate
appearances. 
But the Tigers’ dominance on the mound masked their off night in the batter’s
box. 
“We didn’t hit a lot, but we hit enough,” Mainieri said. “Especially when you only give up one hit.” 
You can reach David Gray on Twitter @dgray_TDR.