LSU Wins Rubber Match Against Florida, 11-2 to win Series

Photo By: Jonathan Mailhes

Da Boot Sports
3/27/2022
By: David Penn


   GAINESVILLE, FL - # 21 LSU (17-7) brought two freshman pitchers to the mound and Coach Jay Johnson won his first SEC series over #8 Florida (17-7) on Sunday in Gainesville.

   Sam Dutton started for the Tigers throwing 3.2 scoreless innings before Grant Taylor would come on in relief and go the distance.

   In his first start for LSU, Sam Dutton allowed no hits, no runs, walked three batters, and tallied one strikeout. Needing an out to retire the side in the fourth inning, pitching coach Jason Kelly turned to Grant Taylor (2-0) who got the final out of the fourth inning and pitched the rest of the game. Taylor gave up four hits and two runs but stymie the Gators’ momentum and earn the win allowing four hits, two runs, walking two, and striking out six.

   The hot bats on display Saturday kept burning on Sunday with LSU blasting three home runs. LSU also benefited from eight players reaching after being hit by Gator pitching, which would cost Florida throughout the game.
    
   Designated hitter Brayden Jobert blasted two of LSU’s three homeruns and picked up five RBIs in the process. Hayden Travinski added a two run shot of his own to account for the other homerun. In all, the Tigers scored 11 runs on 12 hits and were certainly helped by the Gators pitching staff giving them free base runners.

   “It’s a great accomplishment for our team against a great program,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “I thought we attacked at the plate over the last two days, and we had great effort on the mound today and all weekend. We had a bunch of quality at-bats and stuck to our plan against a really good pitching staff.”
    
   Ryan Slater (2-1) took his first loss of the season for Florida, giving up four runs on four hits and came out in the fourth inning, he struck out one batter. The Gators would use five more pitchers in the outing without much success as the Tigers stayed aggressive in the batter’s box.

   Whyatt Langford would get the Gators on the board with a single in the sixth that scored Sterlin Thompson. Kris
Armstrong would ground out to Tre’ Morgan but the Gators plated another run from that at bat when Langford crossed home plate.
    
​   Next up for the Tigers is a midweek battle against Louisiana Monroe at Alex Box Stadium on Tuesday March 30 at 6:30om CT before moving on to host the Tigers of Auburn for a SEC weekend series.

---