LSU defeated Xavier 8-2 Saturday night at Alex Box Stadium in one of its most complete games of the season.
A strong outing by Gage Jump coupled with consistent hitting kept the Tigers with a comfortable lead and the eventual victory. Runs in four different innings and hot bats from Hayden Travinski and Ethan Frey powered an impressive offensive performance.
In his five innings, Jump shutout Xavier with 10 strikeouts and allowed just three hits. He threw 87 total pitches, 64 of them were for strikes.
“It’s a ton of strikes, the hitter has to make a decision every pitch, and very few free bases in there, just a lot of pressure pitch by pitch,” head coach Jay Johnson said.
After getting the start, Frey took advantage. With bases loaded, two outs and a full count in the first, he hit a double to drive in the first three runs of the game for LSU.
Frey left in the third after a shoulder injury Jay Johnson compared to Tommy White’s injury last season. Johnson expects Frey to be able to play in around a week. He finished the day 2-for-2 with three RBI.
A Steven Milam sac fly and a Travinski solo home run would extend LSU’s lead to five entering the fifth.
Four hits in the fifth, including a two-RBI double by Travinski gave LSU eight runs.
Travinski finished the game 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and three RBI.
Xavier’s only two runs came in the sixth when their bats were all over reliever Sam Dutton. Jay Johnson would leave Dutton in for two thirds of the seventh, he did not allow a hit.
Cam Johnson, Nic Bronzini and Will Hellmers all had brief appearances. They allowed no hits and had two strikeouts between them.
Likely a season best performance from Jump and reliable hitting gave LSU the second win of the series over Xavier, ending 8-2.

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