The No. 8 LSU baseball team isn’t used to getting blanked.
The Tigers (16-3, 0-2) were shutout Saturday night against No. 1 Florida (17-2, 2-0), 1-0, marking the first time they were held scoreless since 2007.
“We just couldn’t get the runs across,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a team with nine hits and get shutout.”
The Tigers left five combined runners on base in the seventh and eighth innings and left 10 runners on base in the game.
“You can’t win ballgames when you strand 10 runners on,” said junior shortstop Austin Nola. “That’s just the way the game goes. We’ve got to do a better job tomorrow in getting runners in whenever we need to.”
The Tigers notched eight of their nine hits off Florida sophomore pitcher Hudson Randall (3-0) but couldn’t get a run across. Randall fanned two batters walked none in 6 2/3 innings.
“He kept the ball down and got ahead of hitters,” Nola said. “In college baseball when you work down and don’t walk anybody, usually things work out well.”
LSU freshman pitcher Kevin Gausman (2-1) went toe-to-toe with Randall, throwing 118 pitches in eight innings of work with four strikeouts and four walks.
“When you have a lead, sometimes you tend to leave balls up,” Gausman said. “When you know you can’t give up a base hit or walk a guy here, you’re kind of locked in.”
Florida junior left fielder Daniel Pigott smashed an RBI double to left field with no outs in the first inning for the first and only run of the game.
LSU nearly answered in the first inning when Nola hit a grounder to third base with Tigers on second and third.
The throw pulled sophomore first baseman Austin Maddox off the base but the umpire ruled he came back down on the bag before Nola reached first base.
“I thought I could beat it out,” Nola said. “I thought I had it, but that’s not what the umpire thought.”
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @TDR_Kavner