LSU baseball finally got its first SEC win since April 5, but it came in a fittingly underwhelming fashion.
The first game of the series between LSU and South Carolina, which LSU won 6-1, was supposed to happen Friday night. It got moved to Saturday afternoon due to rain, meaning that though the weather was beautiful, Alex Box was relatively quiet and definitely not busy.
Outside of the first two innings, there wasn’t too much hoopla besides a couple of double plays and a fantastic barehanded play by Steven Milam.
William Schmidt had his second-longest outing of the year, going six innings and only allowing a run in the first. The defense behind him was stellar outside of a dropped pop-up in the first inning.
“I thought the defense was outstanding,” Schmidt said. “Steven [Milam]’s making big league plays look like routine.”
He allowed five hits but only one run in one of his finest outings of the year. Seven strikeouts and defense that was tight enough kept South Carolina from ever being much of a challenge. He also threw 63% of his 97 pitches for strikes.
“I feel like I got ahead in the count pretty good, and we’ve been working on putting guys away before getting to a 3-2 count, and I did that a few times today,” Schmidt said.
One of the strangest points in the game came when there wasn’t even any game action going on. Going into the fourth inning, catcher Omar Serna was throwing to second in warmups, but the ball hit Schmidt in the back. Schmidt was okay and still went a few more innings.
“That dude’s taken enough hits from me on balls in the first,” Schmidt said. “Maybe that one I deserve.”
Almost all of the scoring came in the first two innings and from the top of the lineup. Mason Braun and Serna got on base in both of those first innings, and Derek Curiel drove Braun in both times.
Braun’s on-base percentage of .474 is the highest on the team. He drew three walks on Saturday afternoon and just continues to get better.
Milam batted lefty against starter Amp Phillips and had two singles go low through the left side. Those hits are the favorite of head coach Jay Johnson, and Milam’s second drove in two runs.
Phillips was leaving everything up and was clearly in his own head after plunking Serna after walking Braun in the second. But after the second inning, he only allowed one more run.
Phillips’ lone issue was that he kept letting up free passes, walking four, along with that hit-by-pitch. Serna got on base in each of his three at-bats against Philips, continuing to be the strongest offensive force for LSU.
Grant Fontenot came in and pitched the final three innings for LSU and was extremely strong to end it. He only let two baserunners aboard to close out the game.
“That was sick,” Schmidt said. “Saves a lot of guys … so just really big for our guys.”
Using only two pitchers was huge, as now everyone but Fontenot will be available for the final two games of the series.
The second game of the doubleheader begins at 6:30 p.m., where Marcos Paz gets the start for the Tigers.
