Admittedly, LSU sophomore standout Kevin Gausman wasn’t at his best Saturday against Oregon State.
It would be hard to prove it by looking at his linescore.
In a game that LSU coach Paul Mainieri described as a “grind,” Gausman trudged through eight innings to vault LSU (45-16) into the driver’s seat of the Baton Rouge Regional in a 7-1 victory.
“He just showed another side of himself, how he could just battle through not being as fine as he normally is,” Mainieri said.
Pitching to a patient Beaver lineup, Gausman, a likely top-five pick in the upcoming MLB draft, battled through a high pitch count through the first three innings, scattering only seven hits while striking out only three for his eleventh win of the season.
“I give all the credit to [Oregon State],” Gausman said. “They didn’t chase a lot.”
The Tigers struck first in the second inning after consecutive singles by sophomore catcher Ty Ross and senior outfielder Grant Dozar led to an RBI groundout from senior infielder Tyler Hanover and an RBI single from fellow senior Austin Nola.
Oregon State responded in the third with three straight two-out singles, the third coming off the bat of Ryan Dunn to score Michael Conforto.
LSU answered in the bottom half of the frame with an RBI groundout from Ross and another Dozar RBI single to keep the Beavers at a distance.
“The whole lineup made it a point to have tough outs one through nine,” Dozar said. “Guys came through with some big hits.”
The Tigers would add an insurance run in the sixth and two more in the eighth, highlighted by Nola’s RBI triple that put the game out of reach.
Shaking off his recent struggles, junior reliever Nick Goody pitched a perfect ninth inning to secure the victory for the Tigers, who await the winner of Sunday’s UL-Monroe-Oregon State contest at 6:30 p..m.
UL-Monroe defeated Belmont 6-3 in Saturday’s first game, eliminating the Bruins.
“We kind of grinded our way through and got ourselves a victory,” Mainieri said. “We’re going to put it in our back pocket and move on to tomorrow.”