In his first inning as a starter for the No. 15 LSU baseball team, sophomore pitcher Jesse Stallings threw just nine pitches.
That was all it took to finish the first frame with two strikeouts and the momentum needed to pull away early as the Tigers (19-9, 4-5 Southeastern Conference) beat the Southern, 11-1 in Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium.
“I feel like going up there and getting the outs real quick is big for the offense because we were ready to hit,” Stallings said. “So, if we can retire the first side of the order, we are going to come out confident.”
Freshman right fielder Antoine Duplantis started off strong as the leadoff with a hit. One at-bat later, junior third baseman Greg Deichmann hit an RBI single to give LSU its first run.
Two batters later, sophomore left fielder Beau Jordan singled to bring in Deichmann. Jordan followed his hit by stealing second base for his first steal of the season.
A throwing error by Jaguar (8-18, 3-8 Southwestern Athletic Conference) senior catcher Jose DeLa Torre on the steal managed to bring in junior shortstop Kramer Robertson.
Southern sophomore pitcher Harold Myles allowed one more run after walking junior second baseman Cole Freeman with the bases loaded. Myles walked two batters and hit two with a pitch during the four-run first inning.
“It was a little bit hard to get going, but it was good that we scored four in the first inning,” Duplantis said. “It was able to get things going and show that we were swinging the bats.”
After the high-powered first inning, the Tigers relied on their pitching staff to get through the game.
Sophomore pitcher Austin Bain managed two consecutive strikeouts to close out the second inning after allowing a double by Jaguar freshman left fielder Ashanti Wheatley.
In the top of the third, senior pitcher Hunter Devall picked up a strikeout with the bases loaded to close the inning with two more strikeouts.
In the top of the fifth, the Tigers further extended their lead over the Jaguars.
Junior catcher Jordan Romero and Robertson singled in the second and third at bats of the inning to put two runners on base. In the fourth at-bat of the inning, Jordan brought in Romero on a fielder’s choice to give LSU a 5-0 lead.
After the Tigers loaded the bases, Myles walked Freeman and hit Duplantis to bring in two and put the Tigers up seven. Myles walked five and hit four batters in his five innings on the mound.
“We kind of kept them in the game, and then we kind of just scratched a few across,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri.
Southern finally got on the board in the top of the sixth, when an RBI by freshman shortstop Malik Blaise gave the Jaguars their lone run of the evening.
LSU responded in the bottom of the sixth with three more runs — an RBI single by freshman third baseman Chris Reid and a two run single by sophomore catcher Michael Papierski.
Reid brought in the Tigers’ final run of the night on a triple in the bottom of the eighth to put LSU up 10.
The Tigers used eight pitchers in the game, who combined for 13 strikeouts and gave up two walks. Southern used four pitchers, but gave up six walks and hit six LSU batters.
“It was not a phenomenal performance, but it was a workmanlike performance,” said Mainieri. “It was good for us.”