LSU baseball got its first series win at Missouri, showing significant growth and hope for the second half of the season.
Missouri may not be a top Southeastern Conference team, but it isn’t lacking strengths. Missouri had enough to sweep Florida in early April.
Yet, despite a few cold starts, LSU’s hitting showed up every game.

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Starter Gage Jump and reliever Griffin Herring also showed up with phenomenal outings on the mound, winning Friday and Sunday. Jump was named SEC pitcher of the week.
Game 1
Jump opened the series on Friday in dominant fashion. Consistency from his curve enabled a career high 14 strikeouts and just three hits, holding Missouri to one run. Jump was such a problem for his opponents that he stayed in for seven innings while under a hundred pitches, keeping the bullpen fresh. LSU run ruled Missouri in seven, ending the game 12-1.
The shortened game also came from LSU’s relentless hitting. The Tigers scored in five of those seven innings, ending the night with 13 hits and four home runs. By the end of the fourth inning, every starter had a hit.
An Ashton Larson double scored Tommy White in the first inning to get the Tigers on the board early. A Brady Neal home run was the only score in the second.
In the third inning, the entire order got an at-bat.
Steven Milam set the tone for that inning with a leadoff homer. Larson and Jared Jones walked to set up Hayden Travinski for a three-run shot. Michael Braswell’s double scored Neal, who walked. Paxton Kling paid him back right away, scoring Braswell on a double.
Jones scored himself and White with a home run in the fourth to make it ten runs. Two more hits and a wild pitch scored Travinski.
Travinski scored Jones in the sixth for the last run of the night.
Unlike prior games, hitting actually improved with runners on. The team was 7-for-16 with runners on base. Hits came from all over the order as LSU’s starter delivered an admirable performance worth capitalizing on.
The series opener exhibited everything LSU can be and needs to be, seeding hope for the remainder of the season.
Game 2
Saturday, LSU came back down to earth in an 8-7 loss.
Errors, missed opportunities and a poor outing for starter Luke Holman troubled LSU, despite a near late-inning comeback.
A hit-by-pitch, a double and a single off a missed ground ball to Braswell at shortstop scored two for Missouri in the first inning. Two hits in the second scored another.
Holman was replaced by Aiden Moffett in the fifth after walking two and allowing an RBI double. Moffett struggled to get out of the inning, allowing back-to-back hits that scored three.
Missouri got its last run in the eighth inning from a solo home run hit off of Micah Bucknam.
LSU’s pitching allowed a .500 average and six RBIs when with two outs. Finishing innings was largely the difference in the game.
Bats were cold until late into the night.
LSU had just two hits through the first five innings. The sole run in that span came from a Braswell single that scored Larson, who was hit by a pitch.
Jones lit things up in the fifth with a leadoff home run, but that was all for the inning. 
Travinski homered to score himself and Larson in the eighth, bringing the game within three.
A late surge flirted with a ninth inning comeback.
Milam doubled just after Kling to score one. Then White cleared the bases, scoring two and bringing the game within one. Jones and Larson ended the momentum and LSU fell short. The Tigers finished with seven runners left on base by batters. 
Game 3
Sunday offered the opportunity of a series win. Herring’s excellence on the mound and late hitting from LSU seized that opportunity in a 6-2 win.
Starter Nate Ackenhausen held Missouri scoreless in three of his four innings on the bump. Three hits and an error by Milam scored two in the third. Those were ultimately Missouri’s only runs of the game.
Herring entered in the fifth inning and pitched the remaining five. He allowed just one hit, striking out eight and consistently fooling batters with his off-speed pitches. Providing unwavering reliability out of the bullpen has been a tremendous asset for the team. Herring has established himself as one of the best relievers in the SEC.
The Tigers had just one hit in the first four innings, but they scored in each of the last five.
Milam got himself in scoring position after hitting a triple with two outs in the fifth. Kling doubled to score Milam and Alex Milazzo, who walked.
A White single, a Jones double and two walks scored a run in the sixth.
Larson continued a strong weekend with a solo homer in the seventh inning.
Braswell scored Josh Pearson in an eighth inning double.
Milazzo scored the last run in the ninth off of a throwing error.
LSU was hitting at an average of .429 when with two outs but was 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
The security of Herring’s arm brought a collected confidence to the bats and amounted in the Tiger’s first series win of the season.
While Saturday left much to be desired, a number of players crucial to LSU’s success stepped up throughout the weekend.
Larson went 5-for-10 with two RBIs, two doubles, a home run, three walks and a hit-by-pitch. His performance drew a .643 on base percentage for the weekend. Offensive presence from a new name felt like both a desperate need and yet an inevitability with the plethora of talent available. Larson has produced the numbers to establish himself as that guy.
Braswell, while still a liability on the field, has been showing up as a hitter. He finished 4-for-10 with four RBI, two doubles and a walk. He currently holds the third best average on the team, trailing only White and Larson, who has half as many at-bats.
Jared Jones continues to be a scary sight to opposing pitchers. He went 4-for-11 with three RBI, two doubles, two home runs and three walks.
In past series, LSU has only brought confidence in games started by Holman and relieved by Herring. A career performance from Jump and Herring’s move to Sunday ironically made Holman’s start the only loss in the series. If Holman can bounce back, as is expected, sweeping a series feels much more attainable than at any point thus far. Such outcomes are necessary should LSU hope to be a factor in the postseason.
LSU’s series win needs to be a new precedent, rather than an exception.