GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU won its third Southeastern Conference game of the season on day three of SEC play Sunday with a 10-5 victory over Missouri to sweep the series at Alex Box Stadium.
Last year, it took the Tigers four weekends to win their third SEC game – 10-6 over Vanderbilt on April 4 – to go to 3-7 in the league, lost five straight in the SEC after that and never get closer to .500 than four games and finished 13-17 for a seventh place tie.
Today, LSU is No. 1 in the nation and atop the SEC standings at 20-1 and 3-0 after its 15th straight win in front of 10,803. The Tigers beat Missouri, 7-6, on Saturday behind closer Casan Evans and 12-5 on Friday to get in position for the sweep.
“I mean it definitely helps you a lot,” said junior Ethan Frey, who went 3-for-4 Sunday with two RBIs and was with the Tigers last year when they started off 3-12 in the SEC. “Coach Johnson talks about staying ahead of the game.”
LSU coach Jay Johnson, though, has put last year’s SEC season behind him.
“I know you don’t believe me,” he said. “But I don’t think that way. This is Missouri.”
But Missouri (8-11, 0-3 SEC) is considered the worst team in the league, and LSU went into the weekend with just two wins over teams with winning records. And Johnson knows things will get more difficult this weekend when the Tigers play at No. 11 Texas, which was 16-1 overall and 2-0 in the SEC going into the second game of a doubleheader Sunday at Mississippi State. LSU hosts the University of New Orleans (10-7, 4-4 Southland Conference) on Tuesday (6:30 p.m., SEC Network+).
“It’s always coming in this league,” he said. “You have to be in the now. Don’t look at all the games. Look at this game.”
JAY JOHNSON DEDICATES WIN TO SANDY BERTMAN
Frey cooked Missouri throughout the afternoon as the Tigers’ designated hitter. His two-out RBI single in the fourth inning put LSU up 8-3. He also singled in the third when the Tigers took a 5-2 lead.
Frey gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the first inning with an RBI double down the left field line.
“That first one was a huge hit right there,” Johnson said. “He competed well with two strikes. He’s strong and ripped it down the line.”
LSU added three more on a sacrifice fly by Stevan Milam and a two-run home run by Jake Brown for a 4-0 lead. It was Brown’s first home run of the season.
LSU starter Chase Shores struck out five and allowed three runs on four hits in three and two-thirds innings for the win to go to 5-0 on the season. He was erratic, though, as he walked three, hit a batter and balked.
Conner Ware relieved Shores in the fourth inning with two on and two out after Gehrig Goldbeck’s RBI single narrowed LSU’s lead to 5-3. Ware struck out Mateo Serna after a wild pitch to end the threat. He retired the first hitter in the fifth on a fly ball, but when he hit the next batter, freshman Mavrick Rizy relieved him and got a double-play ball to end the inning.
“The 29 runs over a three-game weekend is really good when you’re in conference play,” Johnson said. “Good weekend. We executed really well all phases. So, yeah, mission accomplished.”
Yes, LSU’s head is above the treacherous SEC waters for the first time since 2023.
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