(Photo Credit: @LSUbaseball on X)
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
One way to camouflage a struggling bullpen and a starter finding his way is to bash 19 hits and score 17 runs.
Doing it after midnight helps, too.
LSU offense ambushed Mississippi State starter Karson Ligon for eight runs on seven hits in the first inning Saturday night and put the visiting Bulldogs away, 17-8, to finish off a three-game weekend sweep.
After two innings, LSU had scored nine runs, and the entire offense had at least one hit. Seven of the nine had scored a run.
Jared Jones launched, and I mean launched, a two-run home run off the batter’s eye begin the onslaught. His teammates just kept applying pressure with line drives and hard ground balls all over the field. Ligon only retired two of the 10 batters he faced.
Three of Chase Shores’s four innings were good. The second was not. He allowed a solo shot to Hunter Hines, but it was what followed that hurt worse. He gave up a pair of two-strike singles and then hit a man to load the bases. Then nine-hole hitter Dylan Cupp hooked a three-run double into the left field corner on an 0-2 offering.
Shores didn’t have trouble getting ahead. He had trouble putting State hitters away.
That trimmed the Tiger lead to 8-4 immediately.
Jake Brown’s RBI single nudged the lead back to five runs which is where it stayed until the bottom of the fifth. With two on and two out, Daniel Dickinson laced a double into the gap in right center to make it 11-4 and really dampen State’s chances at a rally.
Though LSU’s bullpen attempted to breathe life into the State offense in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
Conner Ware, Mavrick Rizy, D.J. Primeaux, Connor Benge and Cooper Williams faced a combined 19 hitters. Fifteen of the 19 hitters faced 2-0 or 3-1 counts or were hit by a pitch prior to getting there.
They threw 31 strikes and 45 balls protecting a massive lead. Primeaux and Williams failed to throw a single strike.
Jaden Noot steadied things in his two innings of work. He only allowed one hit and struck out a pair to finish the game off.
As Jay Johnson continues to search for bullpen depth, what became Sunday morning did not offer a ton of solutions.
Shores did look good for the majority of his outing. Coming out of a 3:36 rain delay, he mowed State down in order in the first inning of the game. He struck out five in his four innings. Most importantly, the comebacker that glanced off his glove and sliced his upper eyelid appears not to have caused too much damage. He stayed in the game to get the final out of the fourth before exiting.
All-in-all, it was a huge weekend for LSU. The Tigers recovered nicely from losing two of three in Austin by sweeping State and improving to 7-2 in SEC play. With the loss, State fell to 1-8.
THE SCORECARD
Derek Curiel: 2-for-4, 2BB, 3R,
Jared Jones: 3-for-4, HR, 2BB, 3R, 3RBI
Daniel Dickinson: 3-for-5, 2R, 3RBI
Ethan Frey: 2-for-5, 2RBI, R
Luis Hernandez: 3-for-5, HR, 2RBI
Chris Stanfield: 3-for-5, 3R, RBI
LSU was 14-31 (.452) with runners on.
LSU was 10-for-17 (.588) with runners in scoring position.
LSU had six two-out RBI. State had none.
Curiel has reached in all 29 games.
Of the 10 Tigers to take an at bat, only Tanner Reaves did not strike out.
State drew seven walks, and none of the seven came from the top six in the order.
LSU threw 93 strikes and 84 balls.
WHAT’S NEXT
LSU will enjoy a day off on Sunday after playing into the morning hours on back-to-back days. Louisiana Tech visits Alex Box Stadium on Tuesday, and LSU travels to Oklahoma for another Thursday-Saturday series next weekend.
