LSU continued its winning ways from the weekend with a comfortable 9-0 victory over Nicholls thanks to five home runs from four different players.
Jared Jones, LSU’s home run leader, added his 18th home run of the season and Tommy White had a four-hit night with four RBI to extend his hit streak to nine games. White also had two homers to bring his nation leading total to 66 in his career.
Freshman Kade Anderson got the start for LSU on the mound and went four innings surrendering two hits, two walks and no runs. His 62 total pitches were the most he’d thrown in his last eight games. Fellow freshman Ashton Larson also put in a solid performance in the outfield with a few nice snags.
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LSU kept Nicholls first baseman Edgar Alvarez quiet on the night. Alvarez came into the game batting .423 with 51 RBI and nine homers. He didn’t record on the night and only reached base once when he was hit by a pitch in the first inning.
“It was a good night for us,” LSU head coach Jay Johnson said. “I’m really proud of the pitchers; it’s hard to throw a shutout in Division I baseball with aluminum bats, especially at this time of the year. It was a really good outing across the board. Obviously, we hit some homers and did a lot of things well.”
LSU used five different pitchers on the night and surrendered just three hits and three walks while pitching a shutout. The win brought LSU’s record to 26-16 and its out of conference record to 21-3. The loss brought Nicholl’s record to 27-15.
The Tigers didn’t manage a run in any of the first three innings, but they did have four hits and looked like they would soon break the 0-0 deadlock. They did just that in the bottom of the fourth inning when Josh Pearson hit his sixth homer of the season to give LSU a 1-0 lead.
LSU wasn’t done there though. Michael Braswell III doubled before walks from Steven Milam and Paxton Kling loaded the bases. Larson put in a nice at bat and drew a walk that brought home a runner.
White came up to bat with the bases still juiced, and a wild pitch brought home another runner to give LSU a 3-0 lead before White fouled out.
The Tigers couldn’t manage anything in the fifth inning but added to their lead in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a solo homer from Milam. The solo homers kept coming for LSU in the seventh inning when White and Jones both tacked on runs with solo shots. LSU led 6-0 after the first seven innings with four of their runs coming from solo home runs.
“Tommy is a special player,” Johnson said. “He’s one of the best hitters I’ve ever coached, and one of the best hitters I’ve ever seen. I’m happy to see him continue to play his best baseball as we’re going down the stretch.”
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LSU would again add to its lead thanks to a home run in the eighth inning, but this time it wasn’t a solo shot. Alex Milazzo drew a walk and Kling singled before White blasted a homer over the left field wall and into the top row of the bleachers where it smacked a fan trying collect a souvenir in the head.
“I saw the guy up on the board rubbing his head and then I kind of put two and two together,” Johnson said. “I hope he’s okay.”
Thatcher Hurd came in to close the game out with the Tigers winning 9-0. Hurd struck out three batters to end the game and give LSU the win.
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— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) April 24, 2024
Up next, LSU has a home series against a struggling Auburn team. Game one will start on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
“We’re going to keep fighting until they tell us we can’t play anymore,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a lot of good baseball ahead of us, beginning this weekend against Auburn. We’re really looking forward to being at home. It feels like a century since we’ve played a conference game in front of our fans.”
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