LSU Completes Sweep of Missouri

About as good of a start to conference play as you could have hoped for

LSU got out the gates of SEC play a perfect 3-0 after finishing off the sweep against the Missouri Tigers by a score of 10 to 5 Sunday afternoon at Alex Box.

Connor Ware was credited with the win and improved his record to 3-0. Ware pitched part of the fourth and fifth innings facing a total of three batters. He struck out one, hit another batter, and got a flyout.

Chase Shores got the start for LSU and, like Anthony Eyanson last night, didn’t have a very effective outing. Shores only made it to the fourth before being pulled for Ware. He pitched 3.2 innings, giving up four hits, three earned runs, walked three, hit another, and had five strikeouts.

Shores had ample run support from the get go as the Tigers put up four runs in the first inning, and pushed across another in the third. Ethan Frey hit a double down the left field line that scored Derek Curiel to give LSU a 1-0 lead. Stevan Milam hit a sacrifice fly that scored Daniel Dickinson to give LSU a 2-0 lead, and then Jake Brown put the exclamation mark on the inning with a two-run home run to right field. It was Brown’s first home run of the season.

Missouri scored a run in the second and the teams traded a run in the third to make it a 5-2 game. Mizzou pushed across another run in the fourth to chase (no pun intended) Shores, but LSU responded with a three-spot in the home half of the inning.

LSU did a good job of manufacturing runs in the fourth inning. Jared Jones grounded out to second base but it allowed Michael Braswell to come home to give LSU a 6-3 lead. Daniel Dickinson hit an RBI double to score Chris Stanfield, and Ethan Frey singled up the middle to bring home Dickinson.

Freshman righty Mavrick Rizy came on midway through the fifth and was able to end the inning with a double play. Rizy pitched two full innings in his first ever SEC appearance and while he didn’t give up a hit, he was charged with a run in the seventh inning. Rizy faced six batters and retired the first five.

Jay Johnson turned to DJ Primeaux to come on in relief of Rizy and it was a pretty ineffective outing. Primeaux allowed two of the three batters he faced to reach base, and Johnson yanked him for Zac Cowan.

Cowan, like Casan Evans did last night, recorded the final seven outs of the game. Cowan had five strikeouts against one walk, allowed a hit, and induced a 6-3 double play to end the game. And if you didn’t see it, Milam made a really impressive play with his glove to finish off Missouri.

LSU’s not going to add onto The Intimidator for sweeping a bad Missouri team, but starting off 3-0 in SEC play is nothing to turn your nose at. Remember, LSU had three wins through its first 15 conference games last season.

This week LSU will host New Orleans Tuesday night at The Box, before heading over to Austin to take on Texas this weekend.