GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
The Tigers opened their game with Mississippi State Saturday night as if they had been pent-up in a seven-hour rain delay, just waiting to bust out.
Which they were.
And No. 5 LSU scored eight runs in the first inning on eight hits in its own thunderstorm of power and went on to a 17-8 win on 19 hits to sweep the rain-soaked three-game series at Alex Box Stadium. It was the second game in as many nights to start after 9 p.m. because of weather and end after midnight. This one did not end until 1:45 a.m.
The Tigers (26-3, 7-2 Southeastern Conference) swept their second league series of the season as State fell to 16-12 and 1-8. LSU won 8-6 on Thursday and 2-1 on Friday.
“That was one of the best offensive innings I’ve ever seen in my career,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “To immediately bounce back from the rain delay and get eight was really impressive.”
Derek Curiel started the first inning with a single, and Jared Jones hit his 10th home run of the season for a 2-0 lead. Ethan Frey added a two-run single for a 4-0 lead. Chris Stanfield made it 5-0 with an RBI single before the Tigers batted around off State starter Karson Ligon. Curiel then singled to chase Ligon. Ben Jones relieved Ligon, but allowed an RBI single to Jones for LSU’s 8-0 lead.
LSU starter Chase Shores struggled again, allowing a solo home run to Hunter Hines and a three-run double to Dylan Cupp to cut LSU’s lead in half in the top of the second for an 8-4 deficit. LSU took a 9-4 lead in the bottom of the second on a two-out RBI single by Jake Brown.
Shores lasted just four innings for the second straight week, allowing five hits and the four runs with two walks. But he struck out five and showed a lot of guts to finish the fourth after taking a well-hit ball off his left cheek. After two outs, Gatlin Sanders hit one hard right back at Shores. The ball bounced off the ground and grazed Shores glove before hitting him in the left cheek just under his eye. Shores went down to one knee and appeared dazed for a few minutes.
But he regrouped, threw some warm-up pitches and stayed in the game. Then he got Bryce Chance to hit a fielder’s choice grounder to end the inning. With a swollen cheek and a shiner, Shores left the game as Conner Ware replaced him.
“He’s OK,” Johnson said. “He has a cut on his face by the eyebrow. He was off a bit when he came into the dugout, so we took him out. But he’s OK.”
The Tigers increased their lead to 11-4 in the fifth on a two-run double by Daniel Dickinson. After the Bulldogs got within 11-5 in the sixth, LSU went up 13-5 in its sixth on an RBI single by Luis Hernandez and a steal of home by Jake Brown.
State struck for three in the seventh to cut LSU’s lead to 13-8. The Tigers answered in their seventh with one run for a 14-8 lead on a Steven Milam sacrifice fly. Then LSU added three in the eighth for a 17-8 lead on a Hernandez home run, an RBI single by Dickinson and a another sacrifice fly by Milam.
Jones finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Dickinson was 3-for-5 with three RBIs.
LSU hosts Louisiana Tech at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday before traveling to Oklahoma (22-4, 5-3 SEC) for a three-game SEC series from Thursday through Saturday.
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