Freshmen right-hander AJ Labas had one of his best games of the season and the No. 19 LSU Tigers defeated No. 25 Louisiana Tech 2-0 on Tuesday night.
Labas pitched six scoreless innings for the Tigers giving up only two hits on his way to retiring the last eleven batters he faced. Labas has solidified himself as a solid mid-week starter for the Tigers improving his record to 4-1 on the season and lowering his ERA to 2.23.
“I feel like normal again,” Labas said. “I feel like my mechanics were there I was using my legs a lot more, I wasn’t flying open as much. I felt like today was back to where I was in the fall.”

Despite being held hitless through the first three innings, the Tigers offense was able to break through in the sixth inning after Louisiana Tech starter David Leal hit Tigers’ third baseman Jake Slaughter to start the inning. A sac bunt brought Slaughter to second base, bringing up red hot centerfielder Zach Watson to the plate.

Watson would deliver, belting a ball into left field bringing in Slaughter and giving LSU the 1-0 lead. Advancing to second on his second steal of the night, Watson was able to score on junior right fielder Antoine Duplantis’ single up the middle extending the Tigers lead to 2-0 through six innings.
“I thought the kids made a good adjustment to [Leal] and we ultimately started to get to him a little bit,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “Obviously Watson’s hit was huge and so was Duplantis, that’s what your veterans do for you, they have to do for you to win.”
Before a shaky sixth inning, Leal shutdown the Tigers through the first five innings. The Tigers struggled to hit off of the soft throwing lefty as he worked the bottom half of the strike zone with his changeup. Leal limited the Tigers to six hits in seven innings pitched, not throwing over 85 MPH the whole night.
LSU struggled to get base runners off of Leal, minimizing there chances to put together any offensive momentum. The Tigers started the game with four consecutive three up, three down innings, breaking Leal’s no hitter up in the fifth off of the Watson single.
After six scoreless innings, the Tigers turned to their bullpen. A trio of Caleb Gilbert, Nick Bush and Austin Bain helped close out the game for the Tigers. The trio gave up no hits on the night blanking the Bulldogs in the final three innings of the game.
The Tigers are back in action Friday with a pivotal SEC matchup against Tennessee set to start Friday at 7 p.m at Alex Box Stadium.