LSU Baseball walked away victorious and completed its first in-conference sweep against the Missouri Tigers in commanding fashion by a final score of 10-5.
Placing an emphasis on jumping ahead early, the Tigers, wearing purple and gold uniforms, found themselves having opportunities to score runs from the get-go.
With one out in the bottom of the first inning, junior designated hitter Ethan Frey approached the plate with two runners on base.
Freshman standout left fielder Derek Curiel drew a lead-off walk, and rising star second baseman Daniel Dickinson, who transferred from Utah Valley this previous off-season, was hit by a full-count pitch.
Fighting off multiple foul balls and seeing ten pitches during his at-bat, Frey would whistle a double down the right field line, and Curiel scored standing up.
Looking to increase this lead, sophomore shortstop Steven Milam had his sights on capitalizing with having two runners in scoring position. Managing to power a sacrifice fly to right field, Dickinson would come across and score the LSU Tigers’ second run of the inning and game.
Putting an exclamation point on this sudden explosion of production from the offensive side of the diamond, sophomore right fielder Jake Brown launched a two-run homerun that cleared the right-field bleachers; adding onto an already nightmarish inning for the Missouri Tigers.
This was his first home run of the season, and Missouri faced an early uphill battle.
However, Missouri would not go away quite that easily.
Picking up one run in the top of the second inning on a single by redshirt freshman right fielder Tyler Macon on a full-count pitch would continuously cut into this considerable deficit.
With no outs in the top of the third inning and two runners in scoring position following a balk called by the home plate umpire, LSU starting pitcher Chase Shores found himself navigating through murky waters while having trouble finding his command.
Missouri center fielder Kaden Peer would bring another run across the plate following a sacrifice fly to left field, and it suddenly was a two-run ballgame.
However, fan-favorite Steven Milam would plate another RBI after grounding into a fielder’s choice at second base in the bottom half of the inning as these teams continued to go back and forth with one another.
Missouri would eventually be served a tough pill to swallow in the bottom of the fifth inning. With two baserunners on and two outs, second baseman Daniel Dickinson recorded his sixth double of the season, and Ethan Frey followed up with a single that sneaked directly up the middle.
Each of these hits would drive in a run, which increased LSU’s lead to 8-3 through five innings.
Ethan Frey had one of his best performances of the season, finishing with three hits (including an RBI double) and coming across the plate as a run.
Freshman left fielder Derek Cruiel continues to make an impressive case as the most talented freshman across the country, recording three hits in three at-bats (3-3) and drawing a walk as well.
Curiel leads the team with a .451 batting average and leads the team by a considerable margin for the total amount of walks drawn this season (23 walks). Additionally, Curiel is tied with first baseman Jared Jones for the most amount of hits on the team (32 hits).
From a pitching standpoint, right-handed pitcher Chase Shores struggled mightily and finished with the stat line: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, and five strikeouts on 87 total pitches thrown.
Coming on in relief with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, junior right-handed pitcher Zac Cowan, who transferred from Wofford this offseason, put together a brilliant performance.
Cowan’s final stat line would be 2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, and five strikeouts on 36 total pitches thrown.
Ultimately, Missouri could never get close enough to make this ballgame interesting.
By a final score of 10-5, the LSU Tigers notched their 15th consecutive win.
This is the Tigers’ longest win streak since 2017, which was broken after winning 17 in a row.
No.1-ranked LSU Baseball looks to continue building upon this momentum, with more competitive in-conference play on the horizon. On Tuesday, March 18, at 6:30 p.m. CST, the Tigers will face the University of New Orleans for a singular matchup inside Alex Box Stadium.
After a few days off, the Tigers will go on their first in-conference road trip and face off against the No. 11-ranked Texas Longhorns for a three-game weekend series.
