LSU baseball started its road trip to Houston with an easy 16-4 win over Rice to advance to 8-1 on the season.
LSU’s offense continued its hitting form from its 18-10 win over Stony Brook as the Tigers recorded 11 hits on the night. Brady Neal had two home runs and five RBI on the night. Freshman Kade Anderson gave up no earned runs and recorded seven strikeouts in just his second career start.
Both teams recorded singles in the first inning but nothing else. LSU started the scoring in the top of the second inning after Josh Pearson and Brady Neal both walked to put two runners on base.
A Jared Jones RBI single scored Pearson before Michael Braswell III was walked to load the bases. Paxton Kling hit a two RBI single to bring the score to 3-0. Steven Milam flied out to end the inning.
Robert Fernandez was pulled in the second inning and finished the night giving up two hits, three earned runs and walking two batters in 1.2 innings pitched.
Anderson recorded three strikeouts in the bottom of the inning to head to the third. The third inning saw both teams score and had nine total runs between the two teams.
After Tommy White and Pearson bot flied out, Hayden Travinski was hit by a pitch and Neal hit a two-run homer to bring LSU’s lead to 5-0.
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A Jones walk, Bingham single and Braswell walk loaded the bases for the Tigers. Kling was hit by a pitch to score a run for LSU and Milam singled to score another. White hit a two RBI single to brings LSU’s lead to 9-0 heading to the bottom of the third.
Anderson found himself in trouble for the first time on the night after giving up a single and hitting a batter with a pitch. Poor fielding from the Tigers and a single from the Owls allowed Rice to chip away at LSU’s lead. Anderson got out of the inning with a strikeout and the score was 9-3 heading to the fourth.
Both teams went three up, three down in the fourth inning and Anderson recorded two more strikeouts.
Bingham reached base to start the fifth inning after being hit by a pitch and Braswell followed up with a single. Braswell and Bingham were both brought home on sac flies from Kling and Milam to bring LSU’s lead to 11-3.
Anderson forced another three up, three down inning in the bottom of the fifth in his last inning of the night. He finished the night with seven strikeouts in 5.0 innings pitched while allowing three hits, one walk and no earned runs.
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Anderson was replaced by DJ Primeaux who only made it through 0.1 innings. Primeaux gave up three straight singles to and let the Owls bring the score to 11-4 before being pulled after recording just one out. Sam Dutton game in and forced the remaining two outs without giving up any more runs.
White hit a ground rule double to score Kling from second in the top of the seventh inning before Pearson was walked to put runners on first and second. An RBI single from Travinski put runners on the corners. Neal hit his second home run of the night to score the runners and bring LSU’s lead to 16-4.
Dutton gave up a single in the bottom of the seventh, but that was all for the Owls. LSU reached base via a walk and a hit by pitch but didn’t add to its lead in the top of the eighth.
Dutton was replaced by Nic Bronzini in the bottom of the eighth. He finished the night with two strikeouts and allowed one hit in 1.2 innings pitched. Bronzini recorded two strikeouts in the bottom of the eight and Rice couldn’t add to its score.
LSU went three up, three down in the ninth inning. Will Hellmers came in to close out the game in the bottom of the ninth. He gave up one hit but ended the game without allowing anything else.
LSU’s next game is against Texas on Friday and will start at 7 p.m.
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