The LSU baseball team used a combination of aggressive hitting and staggering pitching to outduel Centenary at Fair Grounds Field in Shreveport Tuesday, 15-0, in front of 2,924 fans.
Head coach Smoke Laval hoped to use three or four pitchers and as many position players as possible in the game to give them experience and to continue evaluating their talent.
His game philosophy worked as the Tigers used four pitchers, who combined for the shutout, and 13 batters, 10 reaching base with a hit in the Tigers first game away from Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (4-0) start the season with four-consecutive wins for the first time since the 2000 College World Series Championship season.
The Tigers extended their win streak against the Gents to 21 games as Centenary fell to 3-3 on the season. The 15-run win was the largest margin of victory for the Tigers since a 20-5 win against Auburn on May 11, 2001.
The sixth-ranked Tigers totaled 18 hits, and the Gents were able to muster only six. LSU raised its team batting average from .312 to .336. The highest team batting average in LSU history is .340, belonging to the 2000 national title team.
Justin Meier picked up the victory for LSU in his first game as a Tiger. The freshman gave up only two hits and struck out two batters through five innings.
Patrick Rhodes started for Centenary but was pulled in the first after allowing three runs and three hits through 2/3 innings. In last season’s game against LSU, the senior left-hander gave up four runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings.
The Tigers got things rolling early in the game with a three-run first inning. Designated hitter Quinn Stewart doubled to left center and Aaron Hill tripled, two batters later, scoring Stewart. Blake Gill stepped up next and doubled to left center scoring Hill. Gill rounded out the first inning and scored after Ryan Patterson’s pop-up was muffed by Gents catcher Larry Branson.
Holt missed out on hitting the cycle. After hitting a home run, a triple and a double, Holt came to bat in the top of the ninth with a chance to hit a single, completing the cycle. But his chopper to second was fielded cleanly, and he was thrown out.
Holt knocked in three runs and scored two, leading the Tigers to the victory.
Gill continued his impressive play Tuesday going 2-for-3 with a double and a triple. He has at least two hits in each of the Tigers’ four games this season.
After a sluggish 0-for-17 start to begin the 2002 campaign, Gill has turned things around. He now leads the Tigers with a .500 batting average –8-for-16 — and has four RBIs and five runs scored.
LSU had a triple in each of the first three innings by Hill, Gill and Holt — tying a school single-game record — and six Tigers roped at least two hits.
Second baseman Ivan Naccarata had three RBIs on two hits, and Stewart finished 3-for-6 with three runs scored.
Left-hander Jason Determann stepped to the mound in the sixth, striking out three batters and giving up three hits in two innings pitched. Determann is expected to throw well this season after redshirting last year because of a season-ending injury.
LSU returns to action Friday night at 6:30 p.m. against Kansas University in Alex Box Stadium.