LSU Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
LSU’s offense controlled Friday’s contest from the start, and it certainly controlled the finish.
Indiana took a lead entering the eighth, but a nine-run eighth finished the job as LSU beat Indiana, 14-7, in the opening game of the Jax College Classic.
Indiana decided to go to right-handed reliever Jackson Yarberry to face a relentless gauntlet of LSU lefties in the eighth. Yarberry couldn’t hold a 5-4 Hoosier lead.
Derek Curiel singled. Mason Braun floated a line drive into center. Then, on an elevated 2-0 fastball, Zach Yorke clubbed a go-ahead, three-run shot just over the top of the wall in right center. The play was reviewed and upheld.
Pete Haas took the ball from Yarberry and immediately walked a pair of Tigers in front of Seth Dardar’s ringing RBI double to make it 8-5. Tanner Reaves then dropped a gorgeous bunt past the pitcher that plated two more to make it 10-5.
Brown plated another on an RBI groundout, and Braun’s third hit of the game brought home two more.
The Hoosiers’ offense hung three crooked numbers. Both the three-spot in the third and the two-spot in the seventh came as a result of one ball leaving the infield in each inning. A throwing error and the base on balls were involved both times.
Tiger starter Casan Evans allowed an infield single and a pair of walks to load the bases with one out in the third. Hogan Denny singled through the left side to plate a run and make it 2-1 Tigers. Indiana took its first lead on a bases loaded swinging bunt from Brayden Ricketts that LSU catcher Cade Arrambide tried to glove on the third base line and shovel back to Evans at home plate. It was wide and trickled underneath the backstop to score a second run.
In the seventh, with the Tigers clinging to a one-run lead, Landen Fry reached on a swinging bunt that Trent Caraway should have put in his pocket. Instead, he fired wide of first to allow Fry to second. A bunt single put runners at the corners, and an RBI groundout followed by an RBI single off Gavin Guidry gave the Hoosiers a short-lived lead.
The LSU offense was unphased by the development.
It wasn’t Evans’s best day, but he worked four 1-2-3 innings out of five. He was hardly hit hard in the two-run third. It’s a building block that needs to continue to improve next week.
So does the infield defense that was charged with two errors. It could have been three. Milam, on the other hand, made three or four sensational plays as he did all of last season.
Ultimately, LSU was the far superior team on Friday, and they showed that on the final scoreboard. The Tigers have faced a little bit of adversity in three games now and have won them all.
THE SCORECARD
LSU offense was 18-for-40 (.450)
LSU’s leadoff hitters reached base in 7-of-9 innings.
Zach Yorke: 3-for-5, HR, 4 RBI, BB
Mason Braun: 3-for-3, 2 RBI, R
Steven Milam: 3-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI, R
Derek Curiel: 2-for-5, BB, RBI, 4 R
Cade Arrambide: 2-for-2, 4 BB, 2 R
LSU outhit Indiana 18-9
Indiana did not have an extra base hit. LSU had four.
Indiana pitching issued 14 walks and hit a batter. Six of those scored.
LSU only struck out five times.
WHAT’S NEXT
LSU and Notre Dame start day two of the Jax College Classic on Saturday at 11:00am central. Cooper Moore will try to back up his stellar season-opening start. Notre Dame will go to freshman southpaw Caden Crowell.
The Irish and UCF play Friday night at Vystar Ballpark.
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