(Photo credit: @LSUbaseball on X)
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
The LSU midweek train keeps rolling.
LSU (27-3) was great in every phase of the game Tuesday night, dispatching Louisiana Tech, 12-3.
William Schmidt and Cooper Williams got the Tigers off to a steady start on the mound. The freshman duo threw a ton of strikes and churned up the first 4.2 innings of the game allowing just one run.
Schmidt needed the innings, and he delivered a very nice performance. He only walked one batter, and the homer he gave up was very much wind-aided. After 51 pitches, Schmidt will need to sit at least the first two games of the Oklahoma series, but he could return Saturday if needed.
LSU played errorless ball behind its pitching staff, and the offense kept bashing away at midweek arms to the tune of 12 runs on nine hits.
The Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first thanks to walks from Derek Curiel and Jared Jones, an RBI double to left by Daniel Dickinson, an Ethan Frey sacrifice fly and a two-out, two-run single by Cade Arrambide.
The freshman catcher keeps taking advantage of his midweek opportunities. He’s got five hits and eight runs driven in over his last three starts.
Frey is sizzling right now. He smoked a solo homer to leftcenter in the fifth and added an RBI single in the seventh and a screaming RBI double to rightcenter in the eighth. The Rosepine native has been given a chance to swing the bat against right-handed pitching of late, and he’s making good on those chances with quality at bats.
Jones has been producing quality at bats since he showed up in Baton Rouge. He golfed a solo home run into the seats in left in the second.
Two former Tigers left the yard for Louisiana Tech. Zeb Ruddell used the gusting wind to get one out to left field off Schmidt. Brody Drost followed suit with a solo blast of his own in the seventh.
LSU is now 10-0 in midweek games this season
THE SCORECARD
Ethan Frey: 3-for-4, 2B, HR, 2R, 4RBI
Daniel Dickinson: 2-for-4, 2B, 2R, RBI
Jared Jones: 1-for-3, HR, 2BB, 3R
Derek Curiel: 1-for-3, 1R, BB
Cade Arrambide: 1-for-4, 3RBI, 3K
William Schmidt: 2.2IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 2K, 51 pitches, 29 strikes
Cooper Williams: 2IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 2K, 23 pitches, 13 strikes
LSU was 5-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Louisiana Tech was 0-for-7.
LSU scored in five of eight at bats. LSU was only retired in order one, the sixth inning.
WHAT’S NEXT
LSU hits the road for the second time in SEC play. The Tigers and Oklahoma begin a three-game series Thursday night.
In their first SEC season, the Sooners entered Tuesday night’s game with Texas Tech 22-5, 5-4. Last weekend they dropped a series at Alabama.
