Tag: Alex Milazzo

LSU baseball shuts out Auburn to take Game 1 Friday night

Gage Jump started on the mound for LSU, and he shut out Auburn 5-0 in Game 1.

LSU welcomed the Auburn Tigers to the Bayou for a weekend series as both teams tried to win their way into the conference tournament. [autotag]Gage Jump[/autotag] started on the mound for LSU and he shut out Auburn 5-0 in Game 1.

LSU got the scoring started in the bottom of the fourth inning via the long ball. [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] hit a solo shot to give LSU a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the fifth inning, that trend continued as [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] hit a solo shot of his own to give LSU a 2-0 lead.

The score remained 2-0 LSU until the bottom of the seventh inning when LSU tacked on three more runs. [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag] hit a two-RBI double and [autotag]Ashton Larson[/autotag] hit an RBI single to extend the LSU lead to 5-0.

 

Jump finished the game after seven full innings of work after allowing zero runs and only allowing two hits on six strikeouts and zero walks. [autotag]Christian Little[/autotag] finished the final two innings of the game as he struck out four of the six hitters he faced.

Game 2 of the series will start Saturday at 6 p.m. CT.

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Jay Johnson gives an update on Brady Neal’s injury status for LSU baseball

Jay Johnson said Brady Neal has been playing through a shoulder injury that he aggravated over the weekend.

[autotag]Brady Neal[/autotag] has seen a lot of playing time for LSU this season from behind the dish.

The sophomore catcher from Tallahassee, Florida, has played in 33 games so far for the Tigers, and after starting out hitting pretty well at the plate, his production has fallen off.

Starting with the Vanderbilt series, Neal is 3-for-19 (.158) from the plate. That has led to a lot of people wondering what is going on with Neal. Today, LSU head coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] said that Neal has been dealing with a shoulder injury and he re-aggravated it against Missouri last weekend.

LSU is blessed with a plethora of talented catchers as the Tigers have three guys who could be the No. 1 guy at most other schools. [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag], [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag] and Neal all have the talent to be starting catchers at any school in the country.

We have entered the back half of the season and LSU is fighting for a spot in the SEC tournament so it’s all hands on deck for the Tigers right now. Hopefully, Neal will heal sooner rather than later.

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LSU baseball wins 1st conference series against Missouri

Jay Johnson and the LSU Tigers finally got the monkey off of their backs this season.

[autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] and the LSU Tigers finally got the monkey off of their backs this season. LSU won Game 3 against Missouri 6-2 to secure their first conference series win of the year.

Missouri drew first blood in the bottom of the third inning when an error led to two runs for them. The score remained that way until the top of the fifth inning when [autotag]Paxton Kling[/autotag] hit a two-RBI double to score [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag] and [autotag]Stephen Milam[/autotag] and tie the game 2-2.

In the top of the sixth inning, [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] walked with the bases loaded to extend the LSU lead to 3-2. In the top of the seventh inning, [autotag]Ashton Larson[/autotag] hit a solo homer to extend the lead to 4-2.

 

In the top of the eighth inning, Braswell hit an RBI double to extend the lead to 5-2, and in the top of the ninth inning, Milazzo scored on a throwing error to give LSU a 6-2 lead.

LSU will be back in action on Tuesday night against Nicholls.

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LSU baseball gets back in the win column against McNeese on Tuesday night

After falling out of the baseball polls for the first time in a year, the Tigers bounced back with a blowout win on Tuesday.

After falling out of the baseball polls for the first time in a year, the Tigers looked to get some good news. They got just that with a 16-0 victory over McNeese.

[autotag]Jared Jones[/autotag] got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning with a solo homer. [autotag]Paxton Kling[/autotag] followed that with an RBI single and [autotag]Stephen Milam[/autotag] cleared the bases with a three-RBI triple to give LSU a 5-0 lead.

In the bottom of the second inning, [autotag]Mac Bingham[/autotag] was credited with two RBI via a bunt single to increase the lead to 7-0.

In the bottom of the third inning, Jones homered once again. This time it was a two-run shot that extended the lead to 9-0.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, [autotag]Jake Brown[/autotag] hit a two-run homer to right field to increase the LSU lead to 11-0. [autotag]Ben Nippolt[/autotag] was then hit by a pitch with bases loaded to score another run and a wild pitch resulted in [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag] scoring to give LSU a 13-0 lead. Jones then hit his third homer of the night as his three-run bomb gave LSU a 16-0 lead.

LSU will be back in action on Friday night when they take on No. 4 Tennessee in Knoxville.

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LSU baseball dominated by Southern in midweek loss Monday night

Unfortunately, this is not an April Fools’ joke. The Southern Jaguars dominated the LSU Tigers at Alex Box Stadium on Monday night.

Unfortunately, this is not an April Fools’ joke. The Southern Jaguars dominated the LSU Tigers at Alex Box Stadium on Monday night.

Southern won the game 12-7 and LSU did not lead at any point. LSU cut the lead to 3-2 entering the fifth inning but that was as close as they could get.

[autotag]Kade Anderson[/autotag] started on the mound as the Tigers looked to bounce back against Southern after being swept by Arkansas.

In the top of the second inning, Southern got on the board first with a three-run homer against Anderson to give them a 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the fourth inning, [autotag]Ben Nippolt[/autotag] hit a sacrifice fly and [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag] had a sacrifice bunt to cut the lead to 3-2.

In the top of the fifth inning, Southern did some damage against [autotag]Christian Little[/autotag] and [autotag]Justin Loer[/autotag] as they scored five more runs to increase their lead to 8-2. In the bottom of the fifth, [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] had an RBI groundout and [autotag]Brady Neal[/autotag] hit a two-run homer to cut the lead to 8-5.

In the top of the sixth, an LSU error led to another run for Southern as they increased their lead to 9-5. In the bottom of the sixth, [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] scored on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 9-6.

In the bottom of the eighth, Jared Jones hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 9-7. In the top of the ninth, [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] committed his second error of the evening leading to another run for Southern. A fielder’s choice and another error led to more runs for Southern as they increased their lead to 12-7.

LSU will host No. 6 Vanderbilt this weekend. Game 1 of the series is scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m. CT.

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What is wrong with LSU baseball?

The 2024 season has not gotten off to the best start for the Tigers.

The 2024 season has not gotten off to the best start for the LSU baseball team. After three conference series, the Tigers are 20-9 overall and 2-7 in conference play and have lost all three series. The Tigers dropped series to Mississippi State and Florida 2-1 and then got swept by Arkansas last weekend.

So, what is going on with this team? For one, let’s rewind to the 2023 season. [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] and the LSU Tigers had the two best players in college baseball on their team, [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] and [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag]. The No. 1 and No. 2 overall draft picks in the 2023 MLB draft.

Along with that, the team had [autotag]Tre Morgan[/autotag], [autotag]Gavin Dugas[/autotag], [autotag]Jordan Thompson[/autotag], [autotag]Brayden Jobert[/autotag], [autotag]Cade Beloso[/autotag] and [autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag]. That equates to two out of three starting pitchers, first and second base, shortstop, designated hitter, and two of the three outfield spots. One outfield spot ([autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag]), one starting pitcher ([autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag]), and two catchers ([autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] and [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag]) were all that remained from last year’s starting lineup.

Replacing six hitters in your starting lineup and two of your starting pitchers is not an easy task. Johnson had to hit the recruiting trail hard for high school kids and players in the transfer portal. He did a great job of rebuilding the team, but some players you just can’t replace. There is no replacement for those guys.

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at some stats so far. LSU is in the middle of the road for most hitting statistics in the conference. The Tigers are seventh in the conference in batting average, on-base percentage, and hits, eighth in slugging percentage, doubles, and triples. The biggest issue for LSU on the offensive side is that we are ranked 11th out of 14 in RBI and runs scored. LSU is not hitting the long ball as well either as the Tigers rank ninth in that stat.

Three more interesting offensive stats, LSU ranks first in the conference in double plays and caught stealing. First in those areas is not a good thing. That means you have hit the most double plays and been caught stealing the most. [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] leads the conference in double plays. He has hit into eight of them. That’s three more than the next closest player.

Now, let’s look at the Tigers’ performance on the mound. [autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] is the silver lining of this pitching staff. Without him, you would not want to see any of these numbers. Holman has the second-lowest ERA (1.38), second-highest strikeouts (61), and fourth-lowest opponent batting average (.173). Why am I singling him out? Because if you take him out of the equation, LSU does not have another pitcher in the top 15 of the conference.

LSU has the MOST walks in the SEC (131) and the second most wild pitches in the SEC (28). [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] is tied for the most losses in the conference with four and three LSU pitchers are tied for sixth in the conference in wild pitches with four. ([autotag]Kade Anderson[/autotag], [autotag]Gage Jump[/autotag] and Hurd)

LSU is sixth in the conference in fielding percentage but [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] is tied for first for the most errors in the conference with seven. Those numbers will not get the job done, especially in conference play.

LSU will play Southern at home on Monday before hosting Vanderbilt this weekend.

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Instant Analysis: Gators beat LSU baseball in extra innings to even the series

After leading 4-2 in the eighth inning, LSU gave up four runs and lost to Florida 6-2 in 11 innings.

After leading 4-2 in the eighth inning, LSU gave up four runs and lost to Florida 6-2 in 11 innings on Saturday night.

LSU scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the third when [autotag]Jake Brown[/autotag] scored on a [autotag]Mac Bingham[/autotag] single to make it 1-0 LSU. Florida answered that run with two of their own to take a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth.

[autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] then tied the game in the bottom of the fourth with a solo shot to left field.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, LSU tacked on two more runs as Bigham hit a solo shot and [autotag]Jared Jones[/autotag] hit a solo shot to make it 4-2 LSU.

In the top of the eighth inning, Florida had runners on the corners with two outs with [autotag]Nate Ackenhausen[/autotag] on the mound. Ackenhausen struck the hitter out BUT the ball got away from [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag] and he was unable to throw the runner out at first therefore a run scored to cut the lead to 4-3.

Everything went downhill after that. With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, the Gators got an RBI single to tie the game and send us to extra innings. The Gators then hit a two-run homer in the top of the 11th to take a 6-4 lead and LSU failed to score any more runs.

Game 3 is Sunday at 2 p.m. CT.

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LSU gets revenge against Stony Brook to close weekend series on Sunday

With the win, LSU moves to 7-1 this season and will be off until facing Rice on Wednesday.

There was no shortage of runs from either side in this one. The most important thing, though, is that the Tigers came out on top with an 18-10 win over Stony Brook on Sunday. LSU dropped their first game of the season to the Seawolves on Friday as the Tigers could not manage many hits.

The offense woke up in this one as the Tigers scored 10 runs in the first two innings. In the bottom of the first, [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] had an RBI single, [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] had a three RBI triple, and [autotag]Ethan Frey[/autotag] had an RBI single to put the Tigers up 5-0.

In the bottom of the second inning, [autotag]Jared Jones[/autotag] had an RBI single, Frey had another RBI single, [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag] had an RBI single, and White had a two-RBI single to give LSU a 10-0 lead.

Stony Brook finally got on the board with a two-run homer in the top of the third inning to cut the lead to 10-2. LSU got those runs back in the bottom of the inning when Jones hit a two-run homer to extend the lead to 12-2.

The Tigers tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth inning when White hit a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 13-2. In the top of the fifth inning, the Seawolves started making a comeback. Stony Brook scored six runs in the top of the inning to cut the lead to 13-8 as the Seawolves got in striking distance of LSU. Two of the runs were charged to [autotag]Javen Coleman[/autotag] and the other four runs were charged to [autotag]Micah Bucknam[/autotag].

In the bottom of the sixth inning, LSU got four of those runs back after [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] hit a three-RBI double and [autotag]Stephen Milam[/autotag] hit a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 17-8.

The Seawolves scored two more runs in the top of the seventh inning against [autotag]Cam Johnson[/autotag] to cut the lead to 17-10. The Tigers got one of those runs back in the bottom of the eighth when Milam hit an RBI single up the middle to extend the lead to 18-10.

With the win, LSU moves to 7-1 this season and will be off until facing Rice on Wednesday.

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LSU bats come alive against VMI in Game 3

The Tigers set the school record for most singles in a game (20) and tied for most hits in a game (27).Ā 

LSU scored early and often in Game 3 against VMI. It all started in the bottom of the first inning as the Tigers put up five runs in the first inning. [autotag]Brady Neal[/autotag] got it started with a two-RBI double down the right field line, [autotag]Jared Jones[/autotag] had an RBI triple, [autotag]Mac Bingham[/autotag] had an RBI single, and [autotag]Jake Brown[/autotag] singled and a run scored on an error to make it 5-0 LSU after one inning.

Over the next two innings, Neal would put on a clinic from behind the dish as he reminded everyone why you should not run on him.

In the bottom of the third inning, LSU would add even more runs to their big lead as the Tigers scored seven more runs. [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] hit a two-RBI double, [autotag]Stephen Milam[/autotag] hit an RBI double, and Neal hit a grand slam to right field to make it 12-0 Tigers after three innings.

In the top of the fourth inning, we got our first look at [autotag]Cam Johnson[/autotag] as he made his pitching debut. He got a groundout before walking the next three hitters. VMI would then get their first run of the game on a sacrifice fly to make it 12-1. Johnson then struck out the next hitter he faced to escape the jam.

LSU scored three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning as Milam and [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] both had RBI singles and [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag] walked in a run to make it 15-1.

Johnson remained in the game for the top of the fifth inning and he continued to struggle finding the strike zone. He walked three more runners before Will Hellmers was called in out of the bullpen. VMI scored three more runs to cut the game to 15-4 but that is all they could manage.

LSU scored nine more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend their lead to 24-4.

In the top of the sixth inning, [autotag]Kade Woods[/autotag] made his LSU debut. He allowed one run on two walks and one strikeout. In the bottom of the inning, LSU tacked on three more runs to extend the lead to 27-5. The Tigers also set the school record for most singles in a game (20) and tied for most hits in a game (27).

[autotag]Aiden Moffett[/autotag] made his first appearance on the mound in the top of the seventh as he sat down the VMI batters in order and LSU won 27-5.

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LSU baseball lands commitment from 2025 catcher

Landon Hodge is one of the best baseball players in the 2025 recruiting class.

Whenever LSU baseball coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] tweets out a Tiger emoji, something great has happened. This time it was for the commitment of a 2025 catcher from Agua Dulce, California.

[autotag]Landon Hodge[/autotag] is one of the best baseball players in the 2025 recruiting class and on Saturday, he decided to commit to the program that will be defending its National Championship in 2024. The Tigers currently have 18 commitments for the 2025 recruiting class and two of those are catchers. Hodge and Omar Serna are the two catchers in the class.

Last season, the Tigers were led by strong play behind the plate from [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] and [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag]. Both of them fought through injuries and slumps during parts of the season to help the Tigers come out on top in Omaha.

LSU starts the 2024 season on Feb. 16 against VMI at Alex Box Stadium. The Tigers will play VMI and Central Arkansas for the first four games of the year.

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