LSU’s bats struggled at times in the weekend series against Auburn, but they had no such struggles Tuesday night against Grambling State.
The LSU Tigers teed off on the Grambling Tigers all night long and hit five homers in a 26-2 blowout win. They scored more runs against Grambling than they did in the entire series against Auburn.
“I’d like the hard contact we saw tonight from our hitters, using the whole field,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “I liked the at-bats across the board; I think at one time I counted we were 15-for-18 or 15-for-19 over one stretch.”
Brady Neal had missed the last five games with shoulder soreness but showed no signs of the injury having any lingering effects. He had two hits and three RBI on the game with a homer.
“He couldn’t play last weekend or last week I think because he wasn’t healthy,” Johnson said. “He got some extensive treatment yesterday and was much better today.”
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— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) May 1, 2024
Tommy White had a season-high five RBI, Jake Brown had four RBI and Hayden Travinski had three RBI. LSU finished the game with five homers and 17 hits. Eleven of those hits went for extra bases.
The win moves LSU’s non-conference record to 22-3 and its overall record to 29-17. Grambling fell to 18-23 on the season. LSU’s all-time record against Grambling improved to 13-0.
LSU jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first inning after Michael Braswell III stole home and Josh Pearson hit an RBI double to score Ashton Larson, but the real damage started in the second inning.
Neal doubled before a wild pitch brought him home in the bottom of the second and two walks and a Larson single loaded the bases with White coming up to bat. White hit a bases-clearing double to score three before Jared Jones drew a walk to put two runners on base. Travinski then blasted his 14th homer of the season to cap off a seven-run inning.
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LSU was held scoreless in the third inning, but it couldn’t be stopped in the fourth inning. LSU had seven hits and scored a jaw-dropping 13 runs in the inning. It was the most runs LSU had scored in a single inning since it scored 14 against ULM in 2000.
Jared Jones got the scoring started with an RBI double that brought the lead to 10-0. Ethan Frey hit a sac fly to score White before Mac Bingham ad Ryan Kucherack hit a pair of singles that scored three more runners. A wild pitch scored another runner and Jake Brown hit a two-RBI double to bring the lead to 17-0.
White and Neal capped off the inning with two homers. White’s homer scored two and Neal’s scored three to bring the score to 22-0.
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— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) May 1, 2024
Grambling was able to keep from being shutout thanks to a Kyle Walker homer that scored two in the top of the fifth inning. Despite the lopsided loss, Walker managed three hits and two RBI on the night.
LSU continued to put runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Brown blasted a two-RBI homer. Pitcher Gavin Guidry got in on the action when he came in at second base. In his first at-bat of the season, Guidry hit a double. Redshirt freshman Zeb Ruddell that up with his first career homer to score a couple more runs and bring the score to 26-2.
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— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) May 1, 2024
LSU used three pitchers in the seventh inning to close out the game. Nic Bronzini was the eighth pitcher LSU used in the game and recorded the final out. Starter Javen Coleman was the only pitcher to go more than one inning. LSU gave up seven hits and one walk on the night.
“Our pitching is why we’ve won seven of our last nine games,” Johnson said. “We’ve had two bad innings on the mound over the past nine games. We’re looking forward to our pitchers continuing that this weekend.”
Up next, LSU will host No. 1 Texas A&M as it hopes to claw its way back into postseason contention.
“This is a big-time opportunity,” Johnson said. “I’m glad this series is on our schedule.”
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