Tigers Beat Georgia in SEC Tournament Opener

Don’t let ‘em get hot…

Consider LSU’s ticket to the NCAA Tournament punched.

LSU beat the early start and the Georgia Bulldogs 9-1 in the first game of the SEC Tournament over at the Hoover Met. LSU advances to take on Kentucky bright and early Wednesday morning (9:30 A.M., SEC Network).

The Tigers put together arguably its best game of the season considering the caliber of opponent and what was at stake on both sides. LSU came into the SEC Tournament probably on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, whereas Georgia was battling to be a top-8 national seed. Now any doubt about LSU being in the field of 64 is erased, while Wes Johnson and his Dawgs are going to have to politic their way to a national seed.

Gage Jump had his best game in the purple and gold. Working on four days rest, Jump went seven innings and threw 105 pitches. He limited Georgia to one run, four hits, and had seven Ks versus one walk.

“We adjusted some things with Gage’s routine to make sure he was ready to pitch on four days’ rest,” Jay Johnson said. “He’s one of the best pitchers in the country; a lot of people don’t know him because he had thrown only 14 innings in college prior to this season. He’s one of the best pitchers in college baseball, and he showed that today.”

LSU Jumped—pun intended—on Georgia from the start. The Tigers scored two in the first thanks to a clutch hit by Josh Pearson. Pearson had another productive at bat in the second inning, and was able to bring Michael Braswell home on an RBI groundout.

Leading 3-1 in the top of the fifth inning, LSU pushed its lead to 5-1 thanks to a pair of RBI singles by Steven Milam and Alex Milazzo.

Braswell, who has been hitting leadoff as of late, tacked on LSU’s sixth run of the day with a clutch two-out base hit to centerfield.

Leading 6-1 in the ninth, LSU put Georgia in the dirt and added on three more runs. First, Steven Milam went deep for the fifth time this season; next, Milazzo brought home Mac Bingham; and finally, Tommy White picked up his third hit of the morning and brought home Jake Brown.

Tommy White heating up is good news for LSU and bad news for literally every other team in America. White was named SEC player of the week after going 8-15 last weekend against Ole Miss, and now he’s had himself another three-hit game.

As the old adage goes “better late than never” and LSU is playing some pretty good ball lately. The Tigers ought to be comfortably into the field of 64 when the NCAA Tournament bracket is announced and some hosting team is going to be really miffed when they see LSU pop up as their region’s 2 or 3 seed.

“We’re playing the best we’ve played all year, and we are one of the best teams in the country,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a great team that’s found its way. We’ve got a lot of new players that have found their way now, and we believe we have a very sustainable brand of baseball that we’ve been playing for the last 20 games.”

Don’t let the Tigers get hot, y’all.