The LSU baseball team (18-11, 1-8 Southeastern Conference) hosted McNeese State on Tuesday night in Alex Box Stadium. The Tigers bounced back after suffering a sweep against Vanderbilt and losing eight of their last ten with a 14-1 win over the Cowboys.
LSU got on the board first in the bottom of the second inning. Jordan Thompson reached first base on a walk and advanced to second after Cade Doughty grounded out to third. Thompson scored thanks to Giovanni DiGiacomo’s double to left field to make it a 1-0 ball game.
The Tigers exploded in the fourth inning by scoring five runs on four hits. Gavin Dugas led off the inning with a base hit. Brody Drost was hit by a pitch and Dugas scored from a Thompson single to the left side.
Doughty followed up with a base hit up the middle to bring Drost home. Thompson scored on a groundout by DiGiacomo before Dylan Crews’ single up the middle drove in Doughty and Hayden Travinski, who reached on a walk.
LSU scored two more runs in the fifth inning. Drost walked and Thompson reached first on a fielder’s choice. Both scored after Doughty doubled to center field to make it 8-0.
McNeese State scored their first run of the game on a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning. Travinski launched his fourth home run of the season in the bottom half of the inning, but Tre Morgan arguably had the most entertaining at-bat of the night. After the count got to 3-2, Morgan fouled off nine straight pitches before flying out to center field.
After a quiet seventh inning, the Tigers struck again in the eighth with five runs on four hits. Doughty stayed hot with a base hit to center field. Collier Cranford pinch ran for Zach Arnold after he was hit by a pitch.
Mitchell Sanford hit a base-clearing triple to right center before scoring himself on a wild pitch. Cade Beloso reached on a base hit. Safford tagged up from third base after Jake Wyeth flied out to right field. Doughty doubled to left field for his fourth hit of the game and drove in Beloso to extend LSU’s lead to 13.
Doughty finished 4-for-5 at the plate with two doubles and four RBIs, accounting for a third of the Tigers’ 12 hits and 13 RBIs. Every LSU starter got on base and only three players struck out.
LSU used seven different pitchers against McNeese State. Garrett Edwards got the start on the mound. He pitched the first two innings and recorded three strikeouts with two hits allowed. Will Hellmers took the mound for the third and fourth innings and recorded three strikeouts, two walks and zero hits allowed.
Michael Fowler and Theo Millas, Jacob Hasty, Aaron George and Trent Vietmeier pitched the remaining five innings. They combined for seven strikeouts, one walk and one run on three hits. Edwards (1-2) picked up his first win of his collegiate career.
LSU has now won 13 of its last 16 games against McNeese State. The Tigers will return to conference play when they head to Lexington this weekend for a three-game road series against Kentucky.
