In need of a quality start from their midweek man, LSU got exactly that from JUCO transfer Cam Sanders who led LSU to a 8-2 victory over Southern on Tuesday.
Sanders earned his third midweek start of the season and was more poised at the plate with his command improving as the night went on.
Sanders retired 11 straight batters from the second inning to the fifth inning and tied a season high eight strikeouts in five innings of work. Sanders came close to a perfect inning in the fourth, striking out the side on 10 pitches.
Sanders was replaced by sophomore Todd Peterson, the usual Sunday starter who didn’t pitch over the weekend. Peterson would close the game and allowed no runs with eight strikeouts.
“Both of those guys needed dominant outings to continue to build their confidence,” said coach Paul Mainieri. “I just thought both of those guys were the story of the game tonight.”
Sophomore center fielder Zach Watson returned to the lineup after sitting out the last nine games with a strained oblique.  Watson was successful in his return to the lineup, going 3-for-5 on the evening, tying his career high in hits for a game.
“It feels amazing to be back,” Watson said. “I came out here yesterday to get back in the groove. I took some flyballs and hit a little bit. The hardest part was not knowing how long it was going to take. It was a feel thing.”
LSU was in business early against Southern’s starter, Jacob Snyder. A walk and a double from Watson had Tigers in scoring position with no outs. Designated hitter Austin Bain was able to drive home a run but Watson was thrown out at third and put a damper in what could’ve been a high scoring inning.
Three more runs were scored in the fourth off of some missteps from the Southern defense. A balk called on relief pitcher Markaylon Boyd sent first baseman Bryce Jordan to third and a Chris Reid sac-fly brought Jordan home. The deadly one two combo of Watson and Duplantis scored two more runs, all coming with two outs in the inning.
A one hopper to the plate caught catcher Nick Coomes in the head and was replaced by Hunter Feduccia for the rest of the game. Coomes walked off the field under his own power but was helped off by a trainer and coach Paul Mainieri.
One run innings from Southern in the fifth and sixth cut the LSU lead to 5-2 but that was as close as the Jaguars would get. An insurance run in the seventh followed by a two run eighth inning closed the door on Southern.
LSU will travel to Lafayette on Wednesday to face UL-Lafayette at 6:30 p.m. with AJ Labas drawing the start for the Tigers.