Tigers Complete Sweep of Mississippi State

Zzzzzzzz…

Somehow someway, LSU and Mississippi State had a later rain/lightning delay (three and a half hours) with an even later first pitch (9:36 P.M.) and an EVEN LATER end time (1:44 A.M.) than last night but the result was the same: LSU came out on top.

The Tigers (26-3, 7-2), successfully swept State (16-12, 1-8) by a score of 17-8 thanks in large part to a first inning offensive onslaught.

LSU ambushed Mississippi State starter Karson Ligon, and chased him before he could even get out of the inning. Derek Curiel led off the game with a single and Bear Jones wasted no time in bringing Curiel home, and absolutely nuked a ball to the batter’s eye in centerfield to give LSU a quick 2-0 lead.

But wait, there was more! Daniel Dickinson got hit by a pitch and then Steven Milam doubled to right field. That set the stage for Ethan Frey to bring home both and push LSU’s lead to 4-0.

The Tigers plated four runs and the first five batters all reached base before Mississippi State recorded an out. Chris Stanfield hit an RBI single that scored Jake Brown (5-0 LSU), then Curiel hit a two-run single to score Tanner Reaves and Stanfield (7-0 LSU), and that’s when State finally yanked Lingon. Bear drove in Curiel for the second time in the inning (8-0 LSU) and by the time the tidal wave was over, LSU had eight runs off of eight hits.

“That first inning was maybe one of the best offensive innings I’ve ever seen in my entire career,” Jay Johnson said. “Considering the circumstance with the rain delay, the readiness of the team, the ability to get eight runs on the board right away was really impressive.”

Chase Shores got the game three start once again and the outing was a mixed bag. He had a quick 1-2-3 first inning, but gave up four runs, all earned, in the second inning. He ended up only going four innings and his final line read: 4 IP, 5 hits, 4 earned runs, 5 Ks, and a pair of walks. To his credit he didn’t allow any runs in the third or fourth inning, and he also showed some toughness. Shores got hit in the face by a comebacker in the fourth and his left eye was nearly swollen shut. Shores finished the inning and was replaced by Connor Ware.

LSU, thankfully, had an 8-0 lead to start off with because once again the bullpen outside of Zac Cowan and Casan Evans can’t be trusted to throw strikes.

Ware was credited with the win but had control issues. He pitched the fifth inning and while he didn’t allow a hit, he walked two of the five batters he faced. Ware threw 19 pitches, and only found the strike zone seven times.

Mavrick Rizy took the mound in the sixth, and he too had command issues. Rizy walked one, hit another batter, gave up a hit, and allowed State to plate a run in the sixth.

The seventh inning was by far and away LSU’s worst inning on the mound. DJ Primeaux took the mound and did not record an out before being pulled for Connor Benge after just six pitches. In fact, Primeaux didn’t throw a single strike. Of the two batters he faced, he walked one and hit the other.

Benge also had the wrong kind of balls to strike ratio. Of the 24 pitches he threw, 13 were balls and 11 were strikes. Benge faced five batters, giving up a double, a walk, and threw in a wild pitch for good measure. State scored three runs in the seventh, two being charged to Primeaux, and the third went to Benge.

Cooper Williams had the most ignominious effort. Williams took the mound in the eighth inning and threw one (1) total pitch that ended up hitting Ace Reese. He was replaced by Jaden Noot who ended up finishing off the game and had by far and away the most effective outing out of the pen: two innings, a couple of Ks, and, most importantly, no walks.

The LSU bats were great Saturday night/Sunday morning! They scored 17 runs, had 19 hits, and every starter had at least one hit; of the starting nine, seven had at least two hits, and Jones, Dickinson, Stanfield, and Luis Hernandez all had three hits. Even more impressively, each and every time Mississippi State scored a run, the Tigers responded with at least one in the home half of the inning.

State scored four in the second, LSU got one back when it was their turn; they scored once in the top of the sixth, you scored twice in the bottom of the sixth; they scored three in the seventh, you got one back.

It’s great that the bats were able to pick up the pen tonight, but what happens when they can’t? Well, we saw what happens in Austin: LSU loses.

The pen tonight combined for five innings in which they walked five, hit three others, and mixed in a wild pitch. That’s eight free passes versus—to their credit!—just three hits surrendered. The relievers threw 103 total pitches, and only 48 were strikes. That’s going to lose LSU a lot of games moving forward, especially when the quality of opponent increases.

LSU’s 7-2 in the SEC through three weekends and that’s great, but six of those seven wins have come against teams with a combined conference record of 1-15. I’m glad LSU’s stacking these wins now, because things might get real scary come April and May if LSU can’t get anything out of relievers not named Cowan and Evans.

This week LSU’s hosting Louisiana Tech Tuesday night before heading to Norman for yet another Thursday-Friday-Saturday series against the Sooners. The Thursday night game will be carried on ESPN2 (6:00 P.M.), while games two and three can be streamed via SEC Network+.