GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU is above .500 in the Southeastern Conference for the first time since the 2023 season, and 1-0 may have never looked so good to coach Jay Johnson.
The No. 1 Tigers (18-1, 1-0 SEC) won their league opener, 12-5, over Missouri in front of 11,741 Friday night at Alex Box Stadium. Last season, LSU opened SEC play with a 10-4 loss at Mississippi State and lost the third game of that series, 15-5, to drop to 1-2 in the league and never got to .500 again, dropping as low as 3-12 before finishing 13-17. In 2023, the Tigers finished 19-10 in the SEC on their way to the national championship.
“I like that (1-0),” Johnson said. “Let’s do more of that.”
LSU and Missouri (8-9, 0-1 SEC) continue their series at 6 p.m. Saturday on SEC Network+ and play again at 1 p.m. Sunday on the same network.
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Sophomore Kade Anderson struck out 11 in a career-high six and a third innings for the win to go to 4-0 on the season. He allowed three runs on four hits and two walks. Missouri took a 2-0 lead off him in the second inning after he had struck out three straight – two to end the first and one to start the second.
Then Brock Daniels singled after one out in the second, and Jackson Lovich slammed a two-run home run. Anderson settled down to strike out Keegan Knutson and and got Trey Lawrence to fly out to end the inning.
“Not a lot of pitchers think about it like this, but honestly, the two-run home run might have helped me,” Anderson said. “It changed my mindset from just being on cruise control to getting after one batter at a time.”
From the third inning and into the seventh, Anderson retired 13 of 15 batters with seven strikeouts, including one of Lovich in the fourth and one of Daniels to start the seventh. He walked Lovich and gave up a single to Keegan Knutson before leaving.
The Tigers tied it at 2-2 immediately in the home second with a two-run home run by Luis Hernandez. Missouri starter Ian Lohse had hit Josh Pearson to lead off the inning.
LSU put the game away in the fourth with five runs for a 7-2 lead. Derek Curiel put the Tigers up 5-2 with a bases-loaded triple off Lohse, who took the loss to fall to 0-3. Lohse hit Jared Jones before exiting. Daniel Dickinson drove a run in with a ground out, and Jake Brown’s RBI single made it 7-2.
BASES CLEARING TRIPLE FOR 6 🔥@DerekCuriel | SECN+ pic.twitter.com/vIZL4nfuEs
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) March 14, 2025
The Tigers made it 9-2 in the sixth on a two-run double by Brown.
Missouri drew within 9-3 in the seventh on a Pierre Seals sacrifice fly off reliever Connor Benge. Kaden Peer and Mateo Serna greeted Benge to start the eighth with back-to-back home runs to left field, cutting LSU’s lead to 9-5. DJ Primeaux replaced Benge and retired the side in order with two strikeouts.
LSU scored three in the eighth for the 12-5 final as Curiel singled and Dickinson doubled to start things. Brown’s sacrifice fly got the first one in before Stevan Milam hit a two-run home run.
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