LSU Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
That’s a Friday night recipe.
It probably shouldn’t look that way against Dartmouth, but Casan Evans and Gavin Guidry holding the opponent to two runs with the offense pushing five across will do most weeks in the opener. Even if a pair of safety squeezes have to be used to do it.
LSU beat the Big Green 5-2 to rebound from Tuesday’s loss.
The big swing was Derek Curiel’s sizzling double into the left field corner that flipped the score from 2-1 Dartmouth to 3-2 Tigers in the sixth. Brayden Simpson scored from third, and Trent Caraway motored around from first on a great send from third base coach Josh Jordan.
In the seventh, Steven Milam reached on an elementary error by the Dartmouth right fielder who simply dropped a line drive hit right at him. Milam then moved to second on a wild pitch and third on a quality ground ball to second from Cade Arrambide. After a John Pearson walk, Mason Braun undercut a safety squeeze that got too high for Milam to break for home. It did land just in front of the third baseman whose throw to first triggered Milam’s dart home. The diminutive shortstop slid in safety beneath the throw of the first baseman. It was brilliant baserunning.
Curiel’s baserunning wasn’t as good in the eighth when he ran through a Jordan stop sign at third on Jake Brown’s double. Still, Curiel beat the tag at home to add an insurance run to make it 5-2.
Guidry put the game in a vice grip when he entered. That came in the sixth with a Big Green runner at second with Dartmouth up 2-1. He quickly got a strikeout and a fly out to end the threat.
The Lake Charles native worked the final 3.2 innings allowing one hit and striking out five. He’s so much more advanced than he was two years ago. That big curve and the tight slider look the same coming out of his hand, and he sneaks fastballs by unsuspecting hitters when he wants to. He fired 50 pitches which is significant. That’s the extended role Griffin Herring filled in 2024 and Chase Shores grew into in 2025.
Evans wasn’t bad. He just wasn’t dominant. The 10 strikeouts in 5.1 tell one story. The three walks and four wild pitches tell another. After wobbling a little bit through the first three innings, two of which he walked the leadoff man who came in to score, Evans showed his elite stuff by blowing Dartmouth away in the fourth and fifth. It’s in there. LSU just needs more of it.
He’s got one tune up left before conference play.
THE SCORECARD
Casan Evans: 5.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 10 K, 85 pitches, 57 strikes
Gavin Guidry: 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 50 pitches, 35 strikes
Derek Curiel: 2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI, R
LSU left 11 on base
LSU: 5-for-28 (.179)
Dartmouth: 3-for-32 (.094)
With Runners in Scoring Position: Dartmouth 2-for-10, LSU 1-for-11
LSU struck out five times. Dartmouth struck out 15 times.
Seth Dardar made two errors at second base.
WHAT’S NEXT
LSU will play Northeastern on Saturday at 2:00. The Tigers have not announced a starting pitcher. Northeastern beat Grambling 4-1 at Alex Box Stadium on Friday for their first win of the season.
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