(photo credit: @LSUbaseball on X)
By Hunt Palmer
Quality work from a trio of veteran arms and an explosion from the LSU offense made quick work of the first midweek action of the season.
LSU rolled Southern, 13-1, in seven innings on Tuesday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
Conner Ware and Zac Cowan shined in their Tiger debuts even if they had to wait through opening weekend to make them.
Ware worked three hitless, shutout innings with a pair of strikeouts. His fastball comfortably sat in the low 90s, and his breaking ball landed for strikes on several occasions. His command wasn’t perfect. He walked a batter and fell behind on a couple of occasions. He did work back from a 3-0 count to get a strikeout in the third.
Cowan showed the pitchability that made him an ace last year. Nothing he throws is straight. He was sinking the fastball and spinning the slider. Southern couldn’t square him up until Jaguar leadoff man Beny Bikar top spun a ground ball through the middle with two outs in the six for the team’s first hit. Bikar would come around to score Southern’s lone run after a flare double to right field and a passed ball on catcher Blaise Priester.
The LSU lineup quickly struck for a pair of runs in the first.
Chris Stanfield reached on an infield single and scored on Derek Curiel’s RBI knock. After Jared Jones singled, Curiel came home on a balk.
It wasn’t until the fourth when LSU tallied eight runs to completely take control of the game.
Ethan Frey’s first career home run came on a screaming line drive right down the line in left. Daniel Dickinson and Jones would score on the play. Steven Milam’s triple into the gap in right center plated another, and Curiel brought in two more with a single to right.
Kade Woods also made his season debut on the mound. He worked a perfect seventh which included a pair of strikeouts.
THE SCORECARD: LSU scored 13 runs on 14 hits in six innings.
The Tigers finished 14-for-33 (.424)
Milam shook off a tough first weekend with a 2-for-3 day that included a pair of line drive hits.
Stanfield and Curiel hit first and second in the order. They combined to go 5-for-5 with a walk, a hit by pitch, five runs scored and three driven in.
Frey was 3-for-4 with a home run. He also stole a base.
LSU did not commit an error. Southern committed four.
The Tiger pitchers struck out seven and walked just one. Sixty of LSU’s 90 pitches were strikes.
WHAT’S NEXT: LSU travels to Nicholls on Wednesday night for the team’s first road test of the season. The Colonels took 2-of-3 from Northern Illinois in Thibodaux over the weekend. They take on LSU’s upcoming weekend opponent, Omaha, on Tuesday night.
