LSU Baseball Wins By 10-Run Rule For 6th Time With Walk-Off By Ethan Frey

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

Ethan Frey did about all one can do on a two-for Tuesday at Alex Box Stadium.

He batted twice. And he hit two home runs, including a walk-off to end the game by 10-run rule in seven innings for an 11-1 LSU win over the University of New Orleans Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium.

Frey, a junior from Rosepine near Lake Charles, waited his turn over his first two seasons at LSU, hitting no home runs as a backup. But he has four now and is hitting .416 (15-for-36) on the season with 14 RBIs. And coach Jay Johnson is going to have a difficult time keeping him out of the lineup this season.

Pinch-hitting for Josh Pearson in the fifth, the right-handed Frey hit a three-run home run to right-center field in the fifth. His walk-off was a laser line drive to left field.

“This was a really good night swinging the bat,” said Johnson, who also got a home run from Jared Jones to tie the game 1-1 in the first and a two-run home run from Cade Arrambide for a 4-1 lead in the third.

“That was one of the hardest hit balls I’ve ever seen in my life,” Johnson said of Jones’ 450-foot line-drive home run to left field.

LSU (21-1) won by the 10-run rule for the sixth time on the season and won its 16th straight game. The Tigers are off to their best start since 1986 when that LSU team also started off 21-1 before reaching the College World Series for the first time in school history. UNO fell to 11-8.

No. 1 Tennessee (20-1), which bumped LSU for the No. 1 spot in the D1Baseball poll on Monday, lost its first game of the season on Tuesday, 7-6 to East Tennessee State in 10 innings.

The Tigers play at No. 8 Texas (17-1, 3-0 SEC) in a three-game series Friday through Sunday.

“We’re going to get tested by a good pitching staff this weekend,” Johnson said. “I’m really excited, because I think they’re readying up for the challenge.

LSU collected 13 hits in all with every starter but one with at least one hit. Daniel Dickinson went hitless, but walked three times and scored. Jones finished 4-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored with his team-high eighth home run.

“You see 11 runs. You see 13 hits, but even in the second inning when we left the bases loaded, we hit four balls over 105 mph, or something like that,” Johnson said. “Good performance by the offense. These guys have been incredibly consistent.”

Sophomore Jaden Noot struck out five in four innings in his first career start. He allowed four hits and the one run with one walk for the win to go to 1-0. Jacob Mayers struck out four in an inning and two thirds with one walk and no hits. Cooper Williams threw the final inning and a third, allowing two hits with a strikeout.

“I hate these 10-run-rule games because I had a whole plan of what we were going to do the rest of the game,” Johnson said. “That’s a good first-world problem to have right there.”