LSU Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
An early onslaught staked LSU a big lead, and the Tigers held on to beat Notre Dame on Saturday.
LSU moved to 2-0 in the Jax College Classic with a 9-4 win over the Irish on a sunny afternoon at VyStar Ballpark.
Cooper Moore hung four zeros to open the game, and the Tigers struck for two in the second, three in the third and two more in the fourth to make it 7-0 early and seize control of the game.
Transfers Brayden Simpson and Trent Caraway doubled home a run in back-to-back at bats in the second. The LSU offense collected four hits in the third including an RBI single by Seth Dardar and an RBI hit by Omar Serna who lined the ball to the opposite field on a nice piece of hitting by the powerful freshman. Simpson walked with the sacks packed later in the frame.
Cade Arrambide’s monster home run to straight away center added two more in the fourth.
Moore lived in the strike zone early, consistently working from ahead in counts and only allowing a pair of one out singles through four frames.
Notre Dame put together a few good at bats in the fifth including a pair of two-strike singles. The second one scored the Irish’s first run.
Moore’s lone true mistake was a hanging offspeed pitch to Jayce Lee in the sixth. The Irish right fielder didn’t miss it. He launched it over to left field wall for a two-run homer to make it 7-3.
That’s when the bullpens lost the strike zone.
Notre Dame allowed a Tiger run to come home on a wild pitch and another on a bases loaded walk to Serna. It was 9-3 LSU entering the seventh.
Ethan Plog allowed a leadoff single and walked a man on four pitches. Deven Sheerin took over and walked a pair of hitters to force in a run. At that point, Sheerin found his mechanics. He struck Lee out and got a weak line drive to leave the bases loaded in a 9-4 game at stretch time.
He struck out the side in the eighth with a stellar array of 97 mph heaters and tight, sharp sliders that the Irish had no chance with.
Dax Dathe recorded a pair of strikeouts in the ninth to move LSU to 7-0 on the young season.
THE SCORECARD
Jake Brown: 4-for-5, 3 R
Zach Yorke: 2-for-5, R
Seth Dardar: 2-for-3, 2B, RBI, BB, R
Cooper Moore: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 78 pitches, 62 strikes
Plog/Sheerin/Dathe: 3.1 IP, 8 K
With Runners On: ND 2-for-14 (.143); LSU 9-for-23 (.391)
Two-Out RBI: ND 1; LSU 5
WHAT’S NEXT
LSU will close out the Jax College Classic at 2:00 central time against UCF. William Schmidt is expected to get the start for the Tigers. UCF takes on Indiana in Game 2 of Saturday’s slate.
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