Tigers take care of Nicholls behind dominant bullpen

By Hunt Palmer

THE STORY

Zac Cowan’s start sputtered, but the four hurlers who followed were locked in.

The Tiger bullpen combined for 6.2 hitless, scoreless frames to help LSU to a 12-1 win to move to 4-0 on the young season.

Reagan Ricken’s collegiate debut was dazzling. The lanky freshman efficiently mowed through the Nicholls lineup for three innings with a low 90s fastball and an array of offspeed pitches that make him a likely starter in his time at LSU. He was credited with the save on Wednesday.

Got ‘Em Swinging @ReaganRicken | SECN + pic.twitter.com/kk5YRZLV9X

— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) February 18, 2026

Trent Caraway got a 3-0 green light with the bases loaded in the LSU first. He uncoiled for a grand slam into the second row of the left field seats that put LSU in front 5-1. John Pearson’s mammouth three-run blast in the eighth finish it in run-rule fashion.

Colonel’s two-hole hitter Nico Rijo-Berget lifted a solo shot to left off Cowan to start the scoring in the first. Though Cowan’s outing wasn’t strong, he did escape further damage in the damage after two singles and a throwing error by Caraway loaded the bases.

Cowan left the ball up too often, and Nicholls hit it hard.

The bullpen had no such issues.

Jake Brown drove in a run with a ground ball in the second and another with a flare single to center in the sixth that probably should have been caught but wasn’t by the Nicholls centerfielder who was positioned deep. A wild pitch later in the inning scored Steven Milam.

THE SCORECARD

Dax Dathe: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Zion Theophilus: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 K

Santiago Garcia: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K

Reagan Ricken: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Steven Milam: 1-for-3, BB, 2 R

Jake Brown: 3-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI, R

Trent Caraway: 1-for-3, Grand Slam

Nicholls was 0-for-1o with runners in scoring position and 1-for-17 with runners on.

WHAT’S NEXT

LSU will travel to Jacksonville, Fla., for the Jax College Classic. LSU will play Indiana at 1:00 central on Friday, Notre Dame on Saturday and UCF on Sunday.

The games will be streamed by D1Baseball with Lyn Rollins and Ben McDonald on the call.