With wind chills dipping into the mid 30s, LSU’s bats were red hot Sunday at Alex Box Stadium.Thanks to first-inning home runs by sophomore outfielder Leon Landry and junior outfielder Jared Mitchell, LSU exploded for eight runs in the opening frame en route to a 16-0 win against Central Florida.”When we’re clicking and everyone is swinging the bat well, it can be a sight to see,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “And that’s what happened in that first inning.”Mitchell led the way for LSU offensively on Sunday and was 2-for-2 with a pair of home runs and five RBI.Mitchell also stole a base in the game to improve to 9-for-9 in stolen base attempts on the season.The junior outfielder said he drew his inspiration Sunday from his teammates who shared in the offensive outburst.”The bats are working a little bit right now,” he said. “Guys are coming through and are hitting well right now.”The Tigers recorded 17 hits for the game, and 10 different players recorded a hit.LSU scored 14 runs in the first three innings of the game before replacing seven of their nine offensive starters. The insurance was plenty enough for sophomore pitcher Austin Ross, who threw 6 shutout innings and struck out 10 batters. “He threw extremely well,” Mainieri said. “He threw down in the zone. He had a good slider, and he pitched fantastic baseball.” Freshman Randy Ziegler, senior Louis Coleman and sophomore Ben Alsup pitched the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to complete the win for LSU.The only LSU starter to play the entire game was sophomore outfielder Chad Jones, who hit the first home run of his career in the bottom of the eighth inning.Mainieri said he is allowing Jones to get as many at bats as he can before spring football practice begins.”The more at bats he gets, the better he’s going to be,” Mainieri said. “I know sometimes it’s a little frustrating to watch him, because he gets fooled by some pitches or he swings and he misses, but you just have to let that kid keep playing.”
 
 
 
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Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]