LSU traveled to Austin, Texas, as champions of the Round Rock Classic and still holding the No. 1 ranking in the country. To escape with that ranking, it took all the Tigers had as a three-run bomb from [autotag]Gavin Dugas[/autotag] broke a 0-0 tie in the top of the ninth as LSU ultimately took a 3-0 win.
[autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] got his second start of the season trying to improve after struggling with his location in his first game. He showed some improvement as he went 4.2 innings against Texas, allowing zero runs on three hits, four strikeouts, and three walks. He is still working on his command, but not giving up any runs is a great start.
Through five complete innings, the score remained 0-0 as each team had three hits, but they couldn’t get any runs out of them. The Longhorns starting pitcher, Lebarron Johnson Jr. mowed through the LSU lineup as he pitched five innings allowing three hits on two walks and nine strikeouts.
Charlie Hurley came in to pitch for the Longhorns to start the sixth inning, but after walking [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag], [autotag]Tre Morgan[/autotag] reached on a fielder’s choice and [autotag]Jared Jones[/autotag] reached on a throwing error. David Pierce had seen enough. He made a call to the bullpen for David Shaw.
Shaw had a balk as soon as he came into the game but then struck out [autotag]Brady Neal[/autotag] to keep LSU scoreless. [autotag]Nate Ackenhausen[/autotag] remained in the game to pitch for LSU heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.
In the top of the ninth inning, Neal and Thompson walked to start the Tigers off with a runner in scoring position and no outs. [autotag]Ben Nippolt[/autotag] followed that with a strikeout for LSU’s first out. The Longhorns then brought in Andre Duplanter II to face Dugas.
Dugas, the man who embodies everything it means to be an LSU Tiger, had two runners on base with one out as he did what he does best. Dugas hit a three-run bomb to left field to put the Tigers on top 3-0 in the top of the ninth inning.
God Bless Gavin Dugas@gavin_dugas04 | LHN pic.twitter.com/0kh57pQqiw
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) March 1, 2023
[autotag]Christian Little[/autotag], the transfer from Vanderbilt, was tasked with closing out the win for LSU. Little got Guillemette to foul out to Nippolt for out number one, He got O’Dowd to fly out to Jobert for out number two, and he got Powell to ground out to secure the 3-0 victory for the Tigers.
With the win, LSU moves to 7-1 on the season. The Tigers will be back in action this Friday as it welcomes Butler into Alex Box Stadium. The first pitch for that game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT.
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