The Tigers (5-0) bats delivered just enough pop for sophomore starter Kevin Gausman, who cruised through seven shutout innings to deliver LSU’s fifth straight win to open the season, beating Appalachian State 4-0.
After giving up a home run in the first inning on opening night, Gausman has followed  up with 12 consecutive shutout innings, and looked much sharper in his second outing Friday night.
“I was pretty much pinpoint accuracy tonight,” Gausman said. “My changeup was finally there. Last week it wasn’t there at all…tonight, my changeup fastball and curveball were all there…I think that was the difference.”
The sophomore right hander pounded the strike zone and fooled hitters with his breaking ball, compiling 7 strikeouts while only allowing four hits. Of the 25 batters Gausman faced, only four got the ball past the LSU infield. 
Offensively, the Tigers couldn’t muster the big inning that they’ve seen multiple times this season, but coach Paul Mainieri was happy with what they got against Appalachian State starter Seth Grant.
“That pitcher last week went 6 innings, gave up one hit, no runs against a very good George Mason team,” Mainieri said. “We scratched out a pretty good victory tonight against a really good team.”
LSU posted four one-run innings against the Mountaineers, and never had more than two hits in one inning.
Junior Mason Katz, who got the start in right field, led the Tigers with two hits, and collected LSU’s only extra-base hit with a double in the seventh inning.
Sophomore catcher Ty Ross also continued his nice start to the year by reaching base on all four at bats with two walks and two singles. Ross is now batting .667 [6-for-9] on the season.
“The reason we [won] is because we dominated on the mound…the defense was really good…[and] we had a couple of big hits with two outs,” Mainieri said.
The Tigers will have sophomore Ryan Eades on the mound tomorrow, with first pitch going at 3 p.m.