Jonathan Mailhes
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
Sunday’s story, to me, is William Schmidt, not the offense.
Schmidt posted his best linescore as a Tiger, and the pitching matched the paper in the 3-0 win. He was fantastic. The sophomore right-hander retired the first 12 he faced and fired 7.1 shutout innings while his offense was asleep.
Schmidt never allowed a fifth batter to come to the plate in an inning and only faced two three-ball counts in 26 hitters. All four hits he allowed were ground balls through the infield.
If he throws the ball like that, it changes this team. Sunday shutouts are rare, and LSU’s staff has produced one in back-to-back weeks.
As far as the offense goes, it was bad aside from Jake Brown.
The slugging right fielder drove a 3-2 curveball at the belt over the right field wall for a solo shot in the first and doubled home an insurance run in the eighth with a ringing double over the centerfielder’s head.
LSU’s second run came in the fourth when Dartmouth’s centerfielder lost Steven Milam’s soft fly ball in the sun for a double. Two hitters later, Seth Dardar popped up to left field, and the left fielder just whiffed it.
That’s all LSU mustered.
Dartmouth right-hander Eddie Albert peppered the strike zone for seven innings and had a cut fastball LSU just never solved. After Brown’s homer, LSU tallied a single hit in its next 21 plate appearances.
Because the Tiger offense was so anemic, it forced some high leverage action from the bullpen for the third consecutive day.
After Schmidt hit Milo Suarez with one out in the eighth, he was lifted. Dax Dathe immediately hit Alejandro Puig to put the tying run at first base. Mavrick Rizy came in a choked off the threat with a pair of strikeouts.
The lanky reliever worked himself into trouble in the ninth with a pair of walks and a pair of wild pitches. That allowed the tying run to come to the plate with two outs as Jay Johnson called on Jaden Noot to finish the deal.
Noot got the swinging strikeout.
The Tigers are 11-1.
THE SCORECARD
William Schmidt: 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K, 95 pitches, 63 strikes
Eddie Albert: 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 100 pitches, 65 strikes
Jake Brown: 2-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI
LSU: 4-of-30 (.133)
LSU with runners on: 1-for-11 (.091)
LSU only got the leadoff man on once in eight tries.
Four Tigers struck out twice.
WHAT’S NEXT
LSU concludes its wrap around weekend with Northeastern on Monday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30. The Huskies take on Grambling Sunday night. LSU beat Northeastern 3-1 on Saturday.
More Top Stories
