Coach Paul Mainieri talked to reporters Monday about needing to make an adjustment. His infield wasn’t producing up to his standards, and he said a shakeup was coming. He’d also have Cade Doughty back in the lineup and at his disposal. The slugging second baseman had missed over a week with a shoulder injury he got from celebrating a teammate’s home run, and his absence in the middle of LSU’s lineup and the problems it created were clear.

With Doughty back in action Tuesday, Mainieri kept his word. He moved Doughty from his usual position at second base across the diamond to third, Jordan Thompson from the hot corner to shortstop, and Zach Arnold to second. There was familiarity at second with Arnold, who had been filling in there while Doughty was out, and shortstop is Thompson’s natural position. Mainieri said he wanted to make the move a week ago, but Doughty’s injury put it on hold. 

“I just thought it was the right thing to do,” Mainieri said.

After two quick outs to begin the first inning, starting pitcher Javen Coleman issued two walks and allowed two hits and gave Texas Southern an early 1-0 lead. It took him 33 pitches to get out of the inning, and Blake Money began warming up in the bullpen before it was over. 

Doughty wasted no time making his presence known in his return. After a Dylan Crews walk, Doughty hit his third home run of the season in his first at-bat back, making short life of Texas Southern’s lead and putting LSU on top, 2-1. 

“I felt really good out there,” Doughty said. “It felt great to be back.” 

Money relieved Coleman to start the second inning after his rocky start and needed just six pitches to get through the frame.

Texas Southern loaded the bases on Money in the third via a double and two walks, then a two-out single scored one run and a passed ball allowed another to reach home. The freshman was up to 39 pitches in the inning before being replaced in favor of Ma’Khail Hilliard. A wild pitch from Hilliard allowed one of the runners he inherited to score, and a pop-up behind the plate ended the inning. It was a three run top of the third for Texas Southern, who retook the lead, 4-2.  

As it usually does, LSU quickly answered in the bottom half of the inning. Crews reached base on a leadoff walk and Tre’ Morgan singled. With the two freshmen on second and third base, Cade Beloso grounded out to the right side, allowing Crews to score. Gavin Dugas smacked an RBI double into left-center field to bring in Morgan and tie the game at four. 

“He’s one of the hottest hitters in our lineup,” Doughty said of Dugas. “It’s really encouraging to see and hopefully he can continue his success.”

Two wild pitches let Dugas move from second to third, then from third to home. The ball didn’t leave the dirt that surrounds the batter’s boxes, but Dugas took off anyway and reached safely after a video review. LSU retook the lead, 5-4, with a three-run inning of their own. 

Hilliard stayed on the mound for the fourth inning and made quick work of the Texas Southern offense. He struck out the first two batters he faced and produced a weak ground ball for the third out. 

“All I needed to do was go out there and fill up the zone and throw strikes and let my defense work,” Hilliard said. 

The LSU bats added two more runs to the scoreboard in the fourth. Morgan skied a fly ball deep into the left field corner that dropped in for a double, scoring Thompson and Crews, who both reached on singles. 

Hilliard continued his stellar relief appearance in the fifth and sixth innings. Through 3.1 scoreless innings, he tossed back-to-back-to-back three up, three down innings, collected five strikeouts and threw 34 of his 40 pitches for strikes. He got most of his punchouts courtesy of his breaking ball, which he commanded effectively all night. 

“You don’t know how great it felt,” Hilliard said. “It was an electric feeling.” 

“Ma’Khail was the MVP of the game,” Mainieri said. “His fastball was moving and cutting, and his curveball had a nice tight spin on it. It’s so nice to see him right himself after a rough outing Friday.”

Hilliard, who describes himself as “very superstitious,” credited his dominant outing to recently cutting off his dreads. 

“The past three times I went and got a haircut, I was thinking about it but I couldn’t pull the trigger. Yesterday, when I got my fade I was like ‘you know what, it’s time to cut it. I got to switch something up’. It was probably the best decision I’ve made in a minute,” Hilliard said. “The confidence wasn’t there, so I felt the need to switch something up.” 

Devin Fontenot, the typical ninth inning closer, came on to pitch in the seventh inning with his team up three runs. Mainieri said Monday that he needed to get Fontenot “on track” after allowing a run in each of his last three appearances. His early season struggles continued for a moment. He walked the first two batters he faced to begin the inning, but induced a groundout and struck out two to escape the jam and pumped his fist as he walked off the mound. 

“I told Fontenot I wanted to get him in earlier in the game,” Mainieri said. “It was a confidence builder for him.”

LSU added three more runs in the eighth. Morgan hit his second triple of the season to score two, and Doughty hit a fly ball deep enough into centerfield for Morgan to tag up and score. The first baseman finished a home run shy of a cycle. 

“Every time I do an interview and people ask me about Tre’ Morgan,” Mainieri said, “I can’t remember any more superlatives to say about the kid.”

The 10-4 score held, Jacob Hasty closed the game out with a scoreless ninth inning, and LSU improved to 10-3 and stopped a losing skid of sorts. Mainieri’s reshuffled infield had no errors, and Doughty wasted no time making an impact in his long awaited return. 

“Now I feel comfortable at third base with Cade there and at second base with Zach Arnold there, and I feel confident Jordan will do the job,” Mainieri said. “I liked the way that infield looked today. It looks like we found the right combination.”