More than 1,600 fans braved the elements on a frigid Tuesday night to see LSU defeat Southern. The Tigers (3-1) defeated the Jaguars (0-1), 6-1 behind a strong pitching performance by junior pitcher Ryan Verdugo. The transfer from Skagit College in Mount Vernon, Wash., got the win after five shutout innings, striking out nine batters while only walking three in his first action as an LSU Tiger. Verdugo retired nine out of Southern’s first 10 batters before allowing his only hit in the top of the fourth. “I think I did a pretty good job,” Verdugo said. “There are some things I still need to improve though. I can’t walk that leadoff guy. That was the biggest thing for me.” The Tigers took the lead early, going up 1-0 in the first inning after second baseman Ryan Schimpf scored from third base on a wild pitch. LSU would add more runs in the inning after a RBI single from catcher Sean Ochinko scored centerfielder Jared Mitchell. Later in the inning, rightfielder Leon Landry reached base on a fielder’s choice that scored first baseman Matt Clark to make the score 3-0. “Our guys did a good job against [sophomore Southern pitcher Jarret] Maloy,” said LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri. “Offensively early in the game we did some good things against decent pitching.” In the bottom of the second, two consecutive singles put runners on first and second for the Tigers. Schimpf, the next batter, laid down a bunt and a throwing error by Southern third baseman Romey Bracey allowed the runners to score to put LSU up 5-0. LSU again put runs on the board in the sixth inning when senior third baseman Michael Hollander doubled into left field and freshman shortstop DJ LeMahieu came around from second base to score and put LSU up 6-0. Southern threatened in the eighth inning using two base hits and a walk to load the bases against freshman pitcher Ben Alsup. Alsup was able to work his way out of the jam getting the next two batters to groundout and fly out. On the groundout by right fielder Brad McDavid, the runner on third scored to bring the score to 6-1. “My concern continues to be the latter half of games and why we fizzle out and don’t put teams away when we have a chance,” Mainieri said. Junior pitcher Nolan Cain came in for the ninth and retired three straight batters to preserve the win for the Tigers. LeMahieu rebounded from his costly error Sunday afternoon to go 2-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored. “[LeMahieu is] probably the most consistent player I’ve ever played with,” Hollander said. “He’s going to forget about things really quick and come out here and play.” Schimpf leads the team in batting average thus far this season with a .545 average. He added two hits and scored a run against the Jaguars. The loss was charged to Maloy, who went one complete inning and faced two batters in the second. He gave up five runs, three unearned, on four hits while walking two. Sophomore pitcher Chase Richard had impressive outing in relief for the Jaguars. Richard allowed one earned run on three hits while striking out three and walking one in five innings of work on the mound. The Tigers continue their home stand at Alex Box when they take on Mississippi Valley State tonight at 6:30 p.m.
—-Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]