By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
That was clinical.
In its first game against a top 10 opponent and in a hostile environment, LSU dismantled Texas with a strikingly balanced offense, an ace-level performance on the mound and a hammer of a bullpen weapon. The Tigers beat the Longhorns 8-2 on Friday night at Disch-Falk Field.
Derek Curiel set the tone with a 10-pitch walk to lead off the ballgame, and LSU never made it any easier on Longhorn pitching. A Tiger reached base in all nine innings, and all nine starters reached base. Texas ace Jared Spencer needed 25 pitches to complete the first inning and 96 to get through five. He struck out seven Tigers with his mid-90s fastball and hard slider. But in the meantime, the Tigers got a two-run homer from Luis Hernandez, Spencer’s former teammate at Indiana State, a manufactured run using a sacrifice fly from Josh Pearson and a two-out RBI single from Hernandez.
That made it 4-1, Tigers.
In the seventh, with the score 4-2 thanks to a solo shot from Texas’s best power bat, Rylan Galvan, LSU knocked Texas’s best reliever Andre Duplantier around for four runs. Steven Milam and Hernandez each singled to put runners on the corners. Michael Braswell’s safety squeeze was so good it resulted in an RBI single.
Chris Stanfield laced an 0-2 pitch into the left field corner to plate two more, and Jared Jones muscled a two-out, two-run single into right field to make it 8-2.
The Tigers did everything you can do offensively when facing an SEC ace. Sure, five two-run homers would be great. But that’s not doable against the best arms in the country. It’s about seeing pitches, moving runners, hitting mistakes and wearing out bullpens.
LSU played it all to script.
On the other side of the ball, Kade Anderson was dealing.
He allowed a tough luck run in the third thanks to a bunt single, an infield single and a looper off the end of the bat to plate the run.
Then Galvan homered a little bit later. Outside of that, Anderson cruised. He worked six innings of two-run ball, striking out eight without a walk. Remember when stamina was an issue the first three weeks of the season? Anderson’s 100th pitch was 95 mph, and his last of the game, No. 101, was his final strikeout.
The key to the weekend is going to be the strike zone. Both of these head coaches have won a truckload of games demanding that their teams control it. Texas pitching issued six walks and hit two Tigers. Anderson and Zac Cowan fired nine innings without issuing a free base.
Cowan dominated Texas for the final three innings.
The Tigers have now won 17 games in a row and sit at 4-0 in league play for the first time since 2019.
THE SCORECARD
- Kade Anderson’s line: 6IP, 7H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 8K, 101 pitches, 71 strikes
- Zac Cowan’s line: 3IP, 1H, 0R, 3K, 0BB, 55 pitches, 37 strikes
- Luis Hernandez: 3-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R
- Jared Jones: 2-for-6, 2 RBI
- Derek Curiel: 2-for-4, BB, extended reached base streak to all 23 games.
- LSU had 26 at bats with runners on base (7-for-26, .269).
- Texas had 13 at bats with runners on base. They went 3-for-13 (.231)
- LSU was 4-for-13 (.308) with runners in scoring position.
- LSU was 13-for-37 (.391) in the game.
- Texas only had one extra base hit, the home run
WHAT’S NEXT
Game two between these new conference rivals will be Saturday night at 6:00.
Anthony Eyanson (3-0, 3.90ERA) will take the ball for the Tigers. Texas will counter with junior left hander Luke Harrison (2-0, 2.08ERA).
Texas will not have Duplantier available after he threw 46 pitches. Same goes for Cowan who finished with 55 for the Tigers. LSU will have everyone else ready, though. So, following Eyanson will likely be a combination of Connor Benge, Conner Ware, D.J. Primeaux, Mavrick Rizy, William Schmidt and Casan Evans.
