LSU baseball secured an entertaining, walk-off win over Missouri by a score of 4-3, clinching the series going into the finale.
Offensively for LSU, the Tigers got on the board right away with a lead off home run from Dylan Crews to start the game. This opposite-field shot was Crews’ 10th home run of the season, as he continues to be a tough out for opposing pitchers. The offense was sporadic for a while after that, with solo home runs from Brayden Jobert and Tyler McManus in the fourth and sixth innings. This made for a back-and-forth game with Missouri answering each time, and it took some clutch hitting in extra innings for LSU to close the game out.
The game entered the bottom of the 10th inning tied at three, before Josh Stevenson got the inning going with a leadoff double. This put the winning run in scoring position and three batters later, a hit from Cade Doughty secured a walk-off win for LSU.
“It was an awesome moment,” Doughty said. “It shows a lot of heart from our time to just stay in there and battle.
On the mound, Blake Money got the start but only went 2.2 innings after giving up two earned runs early on. Jacob Hasty came in to replace him, put together an impressive outing, pitching 2.2 innings without giving up any hits or runs and recorded four strikeouts. He was then pulled in the sixth inning, making way for Grant Taylor. Taylor inherited a runner in scoring position, but got out of the inning unscathed before finishing his night with 2.1 IP allowing one run on two hits and striking out four.
Paul Gervase came on for Taylor with two outs in the eighth, working out of trouble much like Taylor did when he entered the game. Gervase pitched exactly one inning before handing it off to Riley Cooper with two outs and runners on first and second in the ninth inning. Much like the two pitchers before him, Cooper worked out of the jam, tallying a huge strikeout to put LSU in a position to win in the bottom of the ninth. Then in the 10th inning, Cooper worked himself out of trouble with runners on, ultimately giving LSU the chance to win it in the bottom of the inning.
It was another true team effort for LSU’s pitching staff, something that has become a common theme throughout the season. Head Coach Jay Johnson once again used the strategy of rotating pitchers and creating favorable matchups in key moments, and that worked out once again in this game.
“That’s how you win those tight games,” Johnson said of the pitching performance. “One thing that is very big in our game goals, and what I mean by our game goals, ‘if we do this we’re going to win’ is inherited runners do not score.”
The story of the game for LSU offensively was the power that this lineup once again proved it is capable of putting on display at any time. Three of LSU’s four runs came off solo home runs, showing that this lineup can produce runs even when baserunners are hard to come by. The early bursts of power are what kept LSU in a position to win later in the game, as Missouri continued to hang around.
“On a Friday or Saturday night in the SEC it’s hard to string three really good at-bats together. And so when you have guys that can hit the ball over the fence, it can cover up some mistakes and it can help you score quickly when it’s hard to score,” Johnson said of the impact that the lineup’s power has.
Having now won the series, LSU will now look to go for the sweep in the series finale. The game will take place at 12 p.m. and will be streaming live on SEC Network+.
