By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY: For the second consecutive day LSU got steady, sometimes dominant pitching and used some shoddy play from visiting Purdue-Fort Wayne en route to a dominating win.
Anthony Eyanson dodged some early trouble to complete five innings and win his first start at LSU. The offense erupted late to take game two of the series, 10-1.
The game remained competitive early on as LSU tried to adjust to the soft-tossing style of Mastodon starter Zane Danielson. The 6-foot-7 southpaw rarely topped 85 mph with his fastball, and after Daniel Dickinson got a fly ball up into the strong Alex Box Stadium wind for a two-run homer in the first, Danielson really settled in.
He retired nine Tigers in a row from the end of the second until there were two out in the fifth. That’s when Chris Stanfield beat out and infield single in front of back-to-back homers from Derek Curiel and Jared Jones to make the game 5-1.
LSU never looked back.
Curiel’s blast came on a hanging breaking ball. The freshman drove it out of the ballpark on a line to right. Jones tattooed the middle of the scoreboard with his first homer of the year.
Eyanson was steady if unspectacular.
He used his full arsenal of pitches which includes a mid-90s fastball, a looping curve and a sharp split finger pitch he uses against left-handed hitters.
Of his five innings, only the fifth was clean, but he only allowed the one run on a wild pitch that came with two outs in the fourth.
Purdue-Fort Wayne threatened in the third with a pair of singles to open the inning, and a successful sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third. Eyanson got Brooks Sailors swinging on the splitter and then induced a pop up from Ryan Jenkins.
For the second consecutive day, the Tiger bullpen was exceptional.
Connor Benge, the Dallas Baptist transfer, retired the first five he faced, striking out three. After a two-out single in the seventh, DJ Primeaux came on and picked off the runner to retire the side without throwing a pitch. He then struck out the side in the eighth.
Mavrick Rizy slammed the door in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts with that 96 mph fastball from his 6-foot-9 arm slot.
LSU used seven walks and four hit by pitches from Mastodon pitching to create a ton of traffic on the bases.
The three home runs were enough production to create separation on a day where the offense only collected eight hits.
THE SCORECARD: Jared Jones walked twice to go with his homer. He scored three times.
LSU’s three relievers combined for four innings of shutout work for the second straight day. They struck out eight and only allowed one hit and one walk.
Defensively, LSU only made one error, a throwing miscue by Primeaux on a swinging bunt. The position players were clean for the second straight day save a catcher’s interference on Friday.
Dickinson was the only Tiger with multiple hits. He was 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored and a hit by pitch.
The Tigers were caught stealing twice in the game. Both Dickinson and Curiel were nailed at second base.
Tiger pitching only issued one walk for the second straight day. The staff’s strikeout to walk ratio through two games is 31-2
WHAT’S NEXT: LSU shoots for a season-opening sweep Sunday at 1 p.m.. Sophomore Chase Shores and his 99 mph fastball will take the ball.
LSU still has not used presumed bullpen aces Conner Ware and Gavin Guidry.
With a right-handed starting pitcher on the other side, it would not be a surprise to see Ashton Larson make his first start of the season either in right field or as the designated hitter.
THE QUOTES:
Jay Johnson on the different styles of wins…
“I’m not concerned with our ability to win in any kind of way, whether speed, power, solid hitting skills, plate discipline. I think we walked seven times again today. Took advantage of the hit by pitches. A lot of times college baseball games are lost; they’re not one. Those free bases are like turnovers in football. You want to convert. With the exception of the second inning, we did that.”
On Mavrick Rizy’s role as a freshman…
“That dude’s going to throw big innings right now. I’m actually glad we were able to do that today. I told him, ‘you might be a guy, you’re not going to get a ramp. The first one might matter between winning and losing.’ Because I have that much confidence in him. But I’m glad that worked out today. We’ve trained him the last couple of weeks to be able to bounce back. We did two days off two weeks ago. We did one day off last week. I think you’ll see him pitch two or three more times over the next six games.”
