Phenomenal pitching was the story on Sunday afternoon as two freshman combined to throw six innings of shutout baseball. LSU defeated Southeastern 4-2 to go undefeated over the weekend.
Freshman AJ Labas drew his first start as a Tiger and the freshman looked solid in his first outing.  Labas’ fastball never got over 88 mph, but it is expected that he can get that speed up to the low 90s after some more outings.
Labas was cruising through two innings of play, allowing just one hit and forcing the Lions into easy popup situations for his teammates. Fellow freshman Ma’Khail Hilliard replaced Labas in the third. Labas finished with one hit allowed and no runs.
“You can’t help but be pleased with our pitching,” Mainieri said. “We gave up three runs in three ball games. I thought Hilliard was the story of the game so I thought we had a great ball game, a great weekend.”
Junior transfer second baseman Brandt Broussard suffered a leg injury prior to Sunday’s game and had to sit out.
Replacing Broussard was Chris Reid who was tested early as Southeastern sent its first base runner to second on a successful steal. Reid produced at the plate, hitting 1-for-3 and making all the necessary plays at second in Broussard’s absence.
Junior outfielder Antoine Duplantis got the offense started in the first with a solo shot over the right field wall, his first homerun of the season.  Sunday proved to be solo home run day as senior left fielder Beau Jordan matched Duplantis with a no doubter over left field to extend the LSU lead to 2-0 through three innings.
Junior transfer catcher Hunter Feduccia extended his hitting streak to nine games in the third and Jake Slaughter reached on a infield error. A double from freshman Daniel Cabrera scored Feduccia but a greedy Slaughter was thrown out at the plate, ending the inning.
Hilliard put on his best Jared Poche impression, working out of trouble in the third after allowing a base hit and four pitch walk with one out. The freshman reliever has still not allowed a run in his 12 innings of work as a Tiger after a four strikeout, one hit outing against the Lions.
Hilliard retired 11 straight batters beginning in the third inning and ending only when he was pulled from the game in the seventh.
“I was very confident tonight,” Hilliard said. “I just want to go in and help my team get some wins. We have a young staff but I think we’ve been more locked in as a staff in general.”
A two-run blast from Southeastern pinch hitter Kyle Schimpf put the Lions back in the game with LSU leading 4-2 in the seventh.  
LSU brought in more experienced pitchers to close the deal in the final two innings with sophomore Nick Bush and senior Austin Bain pitching shutout innings.
The Tigers will be back in action Tuesday when they take on Southern University at 6:30 p.m. at Alex Box.