By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY: LSU pitching continued to pummel the strike zone, and the offense got two big swings from Ashton Larson as the Tigers finished off a three-game sweep of Purdue-Fort Wayne, 8-1.
Chase Shores made an impressive return from Tommy John Surgery with five strong innings of one-run ball. He struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter. The Shores fastball hovered around 97 mph until the fifth inning when it dipped a touch, but the slider remained sharp start to finish.
Offensively, LSU left the bases loaded twice, once in the first inning. It wasn’t until the fourth when the Tigers broke through against Mastodon starter Gavin Walters.
Larson blistered a home run through the teeth of the chilly February wind for a three-run shot to get the Tigers on the board. Later in the inning, Steven Milam walked and scored on a wild pitch, and Derek Curiel drove in a run with an infield single.
The Tigers added a single run in the fifth on a Michael Braswell RBI single and then two more in the sixth on Larson’s two run double to the opposite field.
William Schmidt made his highly anticipated collegiate debut. He worked 2.2 scoreless innings with four strikeouts. His fastball topped out at 97 mph, and his breaking ball buckled Garrett Maish to lead off the ninth.
The win capped a workmanlike weekend for LSU in which the Tigers threw a ton of strikes, made the defensive plays and swung the bats as well as could be expected on an opening weekend with a couple of chilly, windy days.
Jay Johnson was able to empty his bench all three days to get most of the players multiple at bats. The freshmen pitchers looked sensational, and LSU won all three games.
THE SCORECARD: LSU pitching did not issue a single walk, meaning the Tigers fired 27 innings and allowed two walks.
On the flip side, LSU walked eight times on Sunday to move its weekend total to 23.
The Tigers played another game of errorless baseball although Purdue Fort Wayne’s lone run Sunday came on a botched 1st and 3rd rundown play that should have been handled better.
Larson finished his first start of the season 3-for-4 with a single, double and home run. He drove in five runs,
Jake Brown was 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and two runs.
LSU stole three bases. Daniel Dickinson, Jared Jones and David Hogg II all swiped a bag.
Jones walked twice and was hit by a pitch.
Shores threw 44 of his 67 pitches for strikes.
Grant Fontenot struck out two in his lone inning of work. Jaden Noot got the last out with a strikeout.
WHAT’S NEXT: LSU begins midweek play with a pair of games. Southern visits Alex Box Stadium at 2:00 on Tuesday, and the Tigers will travel to Nicholls in Thibodaux on Wednesday.
THE QUOTES:
Jay Johnson on the walk disparity over the weekend…
“I talk in football terms a lot. Strike zone management on both sides of the ball is like the line of scrimmage in football, and you have to control it on the offensive side. If you do, and you don’t swing at balls, you can create offensive opportunity, and you don’t get yourself out at the plate. So that’s the offensive side of it, and the pitching that just completely suffocates the zone. (PFW) Coach (Doug) Schreiber said something to me after, ‘hey man, that’s every pitch for a strike, and even the balls are close misses,’ I think it was plus-plus command, control, pitchability…we want to be a hard team to play and don’t really give the other team anything.”
Johnson the pitching staff as a whole…
“They did a great job. They’re getting better. They’re better than they were in the fall. That’s a tribute to their hard work. That’s a tribute to Coach Yeskie. A tribute to Jamie. It’s an all-in, all the time effort on making sure those guys lined up. (Gavin) Guidry, (Conner) Ware and (Zac) Cowan didn’t even throw this weekend, and those guys are probably all going to throw 50-plus innings for this team this year.”
Johnson on what he liked Schmidt’s debut…
“Everything. It’s kind of a cool relationship, honestly. I’ve been on the wrong side of the draft thing forever. It’s almost like we were kind of due for that one, you know maybe for Derek (Curiel). And it’s really cool because for three years people are going to continue to talk about him, and you don’t get that in minor league baseball. Matter of fact, can somebody do a study on that, how many mentions do you get as a stud pitcher at LSU versus minor league baseball?”
“He had adversity a little bit last week. It was a little bit unfair. I put him against probably nine of the top 12 guys, and we gameplanned for him like we would gameplan for our opponents. They got him a little bit, and there was the response (Sunday). It’s electric stuff.”
Shores on his slider usage…
“I put a lot of work into that. That was one of the main goals I was focusing on coming back from Tommy John. It really cool to see that on display today. If I want to be a starter, I have to be able to mix and change speeds. So that was a great step in the right direction.”
Larson on not being in the starting lineup the first two days and getting a chance Sunday…
“I think you’re just rooting for the guys who are out there, and you just want to win. Most importantly, LSU gets the win. When you’re out there, you’re just playing the game. I love to play baseball. This is my life, so when I’m out there competing, there’s no extra pressure. We spend hours and hours practicing situations and swings and stuff like that. Then you’re just executing, so you don’t have to think too much.”
