GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU’s bullpen blew a lead in the seventh, but freshman pitcher Casan Evans came on to stop Kansas State in the ninth and 10th innings with some expert help from his defense and timely hitting from the offense for an 8-5 win over Kansas State in 10 innings at Riders Field in Frisco, Texas, on Friday night.
The No. 2 Tigers (9-1) took a 5-2 lead in the top of the seventh on a three-run home run by transfer second baseman Daniel Dickinson, who leads the team with three of those and 21 RBIs. But freshman reliever Mavrick Rizy allowed two singles and a walk to load the bases to start Kansas State’s bottom of the seventh.
LSU reliever DJ Primeaux then promptly hit two batters on back-to-back pitches, forcing in two runs and cutting the Tigers’ lead to 5-4. Nick English singled in another run off reliever Connor Benge for a 5-5 tie.
Benge recovered to get out of the inning and pitch a scoreless eighth, but Kansas State (4-5) threatened to win the game in the bottom of the ninth off Evans. After a strikeout, Evans allowed a single to Dee Kennedy and a double to left field by Seth Dardar. But when Kennedy tried to score from first on Dardar’s drive, LSU left fielder Josh Pearson threw to shortstop Steven Milam, who nailed Kennedy at the plate for the second out.
English then stroked what looked like a game-winning RBI single up the middle that would’ve scored Dardar from second. But Dickinson at second base made a diving stab and threw to first for the out.
Milam singled to lead off the LSU 10th and Jake Brown reached on an infield error. Pearson’s RBI single scored Milam for a 6-5 lead. After Derek Curiel walked around a pair of strikeouts, Dickinson delivered a two-out, two-run single for the 8-5 lead and finished 2-for-4 with six RBIs.
Evans (1-0) gave up a single and a walk around a fly out to left field in the bottom of the 10th. But he proceeded to strike out the next two for the win. He threw two innings of relief, allowing three hits and one walk, but no runs with three strikeouts.
The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the third on an RBI triple by Curiel and an RBI sacrifice bunt by Dickinson. LSU starter Kade Anderson struck out 10 and allowed one hit through five and a third innings. But he then allowed solo home runs to Kennedy and Dardar to tie the game 2-2 in the sixth. Rizy relieved him and got out of the winning with no further damage.
LSU plays Nebraska (3-4) at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Fans can visit 2025friscoclassic.d1baseball.com to obtain subscription information for that game and the Tigers’ Sunday game at 4 p.m. against Sam Houston State (2-6).
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