LSU baseball’s hot offense has gotten colder as the season progressed, but the pitching stepped up big time in the Tigers’ 3-1 win over Northeastern on Saturday.
In his third appearance of the season, Cooper Moore was mowing down Huskies left and right. He was so downright dominant that he went 7.2 innings, which is the most of any Tiger starter so far in the 2026 season.
After his first appearance of the season, Moore said he has always been a strike-thrower. He said he doesn’t usually walk a lot of guys, and that he lives around the zone.
He did just that on Saturday. In his 104 pitches thrown, he threw 75 strikes. That’s a 72% strike rate.
Moore also played balls hit back to the bump extremely well. He showed no sweat on the five attempts. He clearly has experience playing his position, and he showed it.
The more strikes thrown, the more likely balls are to be put in play. Moore’s ability to create weak contact is evident and common when he throws strikes with good stuff.
But he didn’t only pitch to contact. He had 10 strikeouts during his outing, but the headliner was the singular walk he allowed. Walks have gotten the Tigers in trouble at times this season, and if Moore can continue to keep free passes to a minimum, that depth contained in the bullpen will be extremely beneficial for LSU later in the season.
“If you’re winning 15 to us 13 this time of year, there’s going to be a ceiling for your team,” head coach Jay Johnson said postgame. “I think when you win three to one, there’s a bigger ceiling for your team because you’re going to be in more games. The four guys that we’ve thrown in the series, they can pitch for anybody from LSU Tigers to the Philadelphia Phillies.”
On Tuesday night versus McNeese, LSU pitching combined for 11 free passes. Being able to keep the starter on the mound to eat up the innings in the SEC will be game-changing for the Tigers.
The bullpen has had hot and cold moments all season, so keeping the gamble at a minimum will be a must for this team, especially on days the offense struggles to produce.
The usually hot offense LSU has boasted throughout the beginning of the season sizzled out in the game versus Northeastern. The team that was averaging 11.4 hits entering the game on Saturday only put up five hits versus the Huskies.
Unlike most games this season, the Tigers put up single digits. LSU took what the Huskies gave them to push across its runs. Northeastern walked seven Tigers, and the three runs came from the free passes being given.
LSU didn’t have a single extra-base hit on the day.
After the game, Johnson said that hitting a bit of a slump right now tells him a lot about the depth of this team. He said he’s not worried.
“It’s never as good as it seems, and it’s never as bad as it seems,” Johnson said. “Maybe you’re not running balls out of the park and hitting liners, but the guys that I know will do better are some guys that can play better right now. That’s actually a really good thing to have.”
He compared this situation to his past championship teams and said that it’s happened each time he’s had an offensively dominant team. He said it’s not a worry for him.
The game was a great look into the middle of the dog days of baseball season. The Tigers did just enough to push past the opposing team. If the middle of the season looks like today did for LSU, the back-to-back championship dream might not be as far-fetched as it seems.
The Tigers now turn their attention to Dartmouth, as they play for the second time this weekend, on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT. LSU will face Northeastern again on Monday for a rematch.
