Tigers Tune Up Lions, 17-3

Photo By: LSUsports.net

Da Boot Sports 
5/11/2022
By: David Penn


   BATON ROUGE, LA - With the regular season winding down and the Tigers treating every game like a playoff game, the excitement and energy the team is exuding is palpable. The final score isn’t from a Saturday night in Death Valley, it’s the product of a baseball team focused on attaining its goals, which include hosting a regional in front of the LSU faithful.

   The tone was set with the first LSU at bat when Gavin Dugas sent the second pitch for a ride into the left field bleachers.    
   Sam Dutton started for LSU on the bump and pitched the first three innings, limiting Southeastern to one run on two
hits, walking no batters and striking out two.

   Bryce Collins took the mound in the fourth and fifth inning and gave up two runs on two hits, but only walked one batter while striking out five of the eight batters he faced.

   Blake Money also pulled middle relief work, going 1.2 innings and allowed no runs or hits and struck out three of five batters faced with no walks. Trey Shaffer would face the final Lion of the night and earn the K.
    Offensively the Tigers continued to be aggressive at the plate following a 12 run outburst in Tuscaloosa with seventeen runs on twelve hits. Tre’ Morgan and Tyler McManus each had three hits Tuesday night, Morgan collected five RBIs and McManus plated two of his teammates. 

   LSU exploded for a nine run fourth inning where Dugas batted in McManus and Jordan Thompson on a single, Dylan Crews would ground out to third base but scored Collier Cranford, Morgan singled to score Josh Pearson and Dugas. DH Brayden Jobert roped a double over the third baseman to score Cade Doughty and Morgan. McManus’ second at bat of the inning scored Jobert on a single, and Cranford would finish the scoring in the fourth inning by batting across Jordan Thompson.

   In the home half of the sixth inning LSU would score a pair of runs on bases loaded walks and Morgan would cap off the scoring for the Bayou Bengals with a three RBI double.

   The game was concluded in seven innings with LSU owning a fourteen point edge on the scoreboard, triggering the NCAA run rule.

   Andrew Yuratich was charged with the loss for the Lions.

   Christain Garcia cracked a solo homer in the second inning to tie the game for Southeastern.

   Evan Keller slugged a two run shot in the fifth inning to give the Lions their final margin.

   The Lions have an important battle against Nicholls up next for control of the Southland Conference.

   Up next for LSU is a home series this weekend vs Ole Miss that will kick off on Friday night. LSU is looking to continue its winning streak on the weekends and lock up a national seed for the NCAA tournament. 

   The current projection from D1 Baseball has the Tigers slated as the 15 seed, hosting a regional at the Box.

​ “We’ve handled what’s come our way, both success and failure over the past few weeks, and we’ll need to continue to do that over this stretch run of the season." Coach Jay Johnson said.  "I’m really looking forward to this stretch, and I know our players are also.”

---