Tag: lsu baseball

LSU baseball rises as high as No. 3 in Baseball polls

The Tigers went 4-1 this past week, moving up in the polls in the process.

After playing a five-game stretch last week in which the Tigers went 4-1, LSU has climbed the college baseball rankings as high as the No. 3 spot.

This is fitting, because LSU’s No. 3 has a lot to do with why the Tigers had so much success during that stretch. LSU outfielder Dylan Crews batted .444 (8-for-18) with one triple, two homers, nine RBI, four runs scored, and a .565 on-base percentage in the last five games.

Crews is now hitting a team-high .483 on the year with one double, three triples, two homers, 13 RBI, and 12 runs. Along with the hot-hitting Crews, the Tigers definitely got their Money’s worth when Blake Money was on the mound. Money was brilliant on Friday night, as he defeated Towson with seven shutout innings, increasing his scoreless innings streak this season to 14 straight.

Money limited Towson to no runs on just two hits – a pair of singles – in seven innings with two walks and seven strikeouts. Money is 2-0 this season with a 0.00 ERA, a .085 opponent batting average, and three walks and 17 strikeouts in 14 innings.

The Tigers rank No. 3 in the Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game rankings, and they sit in the top 10 of D1 Baseball, USA TODAY Sports and Baseball America’s polls, sitting at No. 7 in the former two and at No. 8 in the latter.

This week will be a very interesting week for LSU Baseball as the Tigers play against New Orleans this Wednesday before traveling to Minute Maid Park in Houston for the Shriners College Classic. LSU will play Oklahoma on Friday, No. 1 Texas on Saturday, and Baylor on Sunday.

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LSU baseball rolls in both games of Sunday matinee

The Tigers concluded a perfect weekend with two wins in Sunday’s doubleheader.

It was a beautiful day for a Sunday matinee at Alex Box Stadium as LSU finished off a four-game weekend going 4-0 and raising its overall record to 7-1 on the year.

The Tigers took down the Towson Tigers with an 11-1 win in the first slot of the Sunday doubleheader, and in the second game against the Southern Jaguars, they were even more dominant. LSU won that won 15-0 and is in good shape ahead of a difficult slate next weekend that features matchups against Big 12 foes in Oklahoma, Texas and Baylor

With a strong performance this weekend, the Tigers bounced back from a tough road loss to a good Louisiana Tech team. Let’s take a look at how it happened.

Next: LSU comes out on top in Tigers vs. Tigers showdown

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Saturday’s alright for winning as LSU tops Southern in second weekend game.

The Tigers took the second leg of their four-game weekend slate with a 9-2 win over the Jaguars.

The Tigers won their second game of the weekend on Saturday, but things didn’t start off very positive in what was ultimately a 9-2 win over the Southern Jaguars.

Ma’Khail Hilliard got the start on the mound for LSU who allowed two earned runs in four innings of work. Tre Morgan led the Tigers at the plate going 4 for 5 with three RBI followed by Merrifield and Thompson who both finished 2 for 3

In the top of the fourth inning, the Jaguars drew first blood with an RBI triple which was followed up by an RBI single against Tigers starter Hilliard. Gavin Dugas then made a diving grab in the outfield to stop the bleeding at 2-0 Southern.

Hilliard was replaced by Coleman to start the top of the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers finally got on the board as Dylan Crews hit an infield single that brought Milazzo home from third. After recording four outs in 1 1/3 innings, Coleman exited the game with an injury and was replaced by Gervase who came in and struck out the final two batters of the inning with ease.

After a pair of singles in the bottom of the sixth inning by Jobert and Thompson, Gavin Dugas hit a two-RBI double into the gap in right-center field and the Tigers took their first lead of the ballgame at 3-2. After Millazo bunted Dugas over to third, Whit Merrifield brought him home on an RBI double down the third-base line to make it 4-2 LSU.

Tre Morgan then continued his great day with an RBI single to score Merrifield. Tre Morgan scored on a sac fly to left by Jacob Berry and after six full innings, LSU led 6-2. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Milazzo laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring home Thompson. Tre Morgan picked up his fourth hit of the day with a two-RBI single to make it 9-2 Tigers after seven innings.

Trent Vietmeyer came in at the top of the eighth inning as a relief pitcher and finished off the win.

LSU will play a doubleheader tomorrow with the first game against Towson at 11 a.m. CST before another matchup against the Jaguars at 5 p.m.

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LSU shuts out Towson behind another great start by Blake Money

The Tigers got back to their winning ways with a 6-0 win over Towson to kick off a four-game weekend slate.

LSU came into Friday night’s game after a disappointing loss to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in Ruston, Louisiana, on Wednesday night. With a weekend full of games upcoming at “The Box,” the Tigers wanted to try to get back into the swing of things.

Although the bats traveled well to Ruston on Wednesday, the defense didn’t. LSU had a total of five errors and two walks that ultimately doomed them. The Tigers only had two errors on Friday night in a 6-0 shutout against the Towson Tigers, both of them charged to shortstop Jordan Thompson.

The scoring spree started in the bottom of the first inning, Tre Morgan reached base with a walk, then Dylan hit a Crews missile to left field to make it 2-0 Tigers after one inning. In the bottom of the second, Alex Milazzo led off with a single and wound up scoring on a bases-loaded walk to make it 3-0 LSU through two innings.

In the bottom of the third inning, Jack Merrifield hit an RBI groundout that scored Brayden Jobert, Dylan Crews followed that with a two-RBI triple to make it 6-0 LSU. Blake Money (2-0) was replaced in the top of the eighth inning after another very impressive outing, going seven full innings and allowing zero runs and only two hits.

Garrett Edwards came in and only gave up a single as he recorded the last six outs of the ballgame to secure the 6-0 Tiger victory in the first game of an eventful weekend in Baton Rouge. LSU was led at the plate by Alex Milazzo who went 2 for 2 on the night, followed by Dylan Crews, who was 2 for 5 with four RBI, and reigning SEC Player of the Week Cade Doughty, who was 2 for 4.

LSU will play Southern tomorrow with the first pitch at 1:30 p.m. CST from Alex Box Stadium.

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Rough night in Ruston as Tigers drop first game of the season

The Tigers suffered their first setback of the season on the road against Louisiana Tech.

It was a rough night for LSU at J.C. Love Field in Ruston, Louisiana. Both teams entered the game with perfect 3-0 records, but a plethora of walks, bad luck, and errors proved too much for the Tigers to overcome against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in an 11-6 loss.

Riley Cooper (0-1) got the start on the mound for LSU. He allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits in two innings with no walks and one strikeout. The Tigers were down 5-0 in the top of the fourth inning when Brayden Jobert hit his third homer of the year to cut the lead to 5-2.

In the top of the fifth, LSU added another run on a Tre Morgan groundout, and in the sixth, Gavin Dugas hit an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-4 headed to the home half of the inning. At that point, it seemed like all of the momentum was favoring LSU and that they would be able to complete the comeback, but then everything went downhill fast.

If it could go wrong for LSU, it did in the bottom of the sixth inning. Louisiana Tech capitalized on three errors and a pair of walks in the bottom of the frame to take a 9-4 lead. They’d add on to that lead in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run homer to make it 11-4.

Gavin Dugas hit a two-run double in the top of the eighth to give LSU some hope, but that’s as close as the Tigers would come to a comeback as they fell 11-6. It was the first time in 25 years that LSU made the trip to Ruston. LSU entered the game with a record of 23-28 in true February road games in franchise history.

“They capitalized on our mistakes; good teams do that, and we’ll do that to teams at times this season,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said in a release. “You like to win these games when mistakes rear their head, but we didn’t, so we’ll work on controlling the ball and we’ll work on having better plate discipline.

“I was pleased with getting down 5-0 getting it back to 5-4; I think that’s a good sign, and I think the energy in the dugout was a positive. I felt like we were engaged in the game, but we’ve got to play baseball better.”

The Tigers will return to the Box this weekend for a four-game series involving both the Towson Tigers and the Southern Jaguars that includes a doubleheader on Sunday.

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LSU baseball’s Cade Doughty named SEC Player of the Week

Doughty had eight hits, two home runs and 12 RBI in the Tigers’ opening weekend sweep of Maine.

Cade Doughty: the third-baseman, the second-baseman, the clean-up hitter, the bringer of dingers.

Call him whatever you like, but the SEC calls him the Player of the Week for his opening weekend performance against the Maine Black Bears. The honor marked the second time Doughty has earned SEC Player of the Week recognition during his career. He was also named the league’s top player on March 15, 2021, after leading LSU to a three-game sweep of Texas-San Antonio.

The redshirt sophomore will play a pivotal role in determining just how good this LSU team can be moving forward in the season. Here’s what the SEC said about him in its release.

LSU’s Cade Doughty led the SEC during the opening weekend with 12 RBI and 17 total bases, and he tied for the league lead with eight total hits and a pair of home runs. Doughty hit .571 during the Tigers’ three-game sweep of Maine, and his on-base percentage was .563. He was 3-for-6 in Game 2 of the series on Saturday with a double, five RBI and a first-inning, three-run homer that highlighted a four-run first inning. Doughty again collected five RBI in Sunday’s Game 3 victory with another three-run homer, a double and a sacrifice fly. He also doubled and drove in two runs in LSU’s Game 1 win on Friday night.

LSU swept the Black Bears this weekend while setting a program record for runs scored in the first three games, and the Tigers will hope for a similar performance for the team heading into a road matchup against Louisiana Tech on Wednesday night.

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LSU remains at No. 8 in D1Baseball Top 25

There was no change for the Tigers after a dominant opening weekend sweep against Maine.

After a phenomenal opening weekend at Alex Box Stadium where the Tigers outscored the Maine Black Bears 51-15 in a three-game sweep, LSU remains at number eight in the D1Baseball Top 25 poll.

There were many expectations coming into the 2022 season, the first at LSU for new head coach Jay Johnson. The Tigers started it off by putting on a show.

Friday was “Money Time” as Blake Money came out and pitched a gem of a game going seven innings while allowing zero runs on two hits and ten strikeouts. The star of the show on offense wasn’t one of the usual suspects, it was the new kid on the block straight out of Junior College, Brayden Jobert.

Jobert finished the game Friday going two-for-two with a homer and two RBI. On Saturday, the bats stayed hot as they rode a streak of scoring a run for 12 straight innings. Two players were one-hit short of a cycle, Crews and Doughty. LSU had 17 runs on 17 hits.

On Sunday, the Tigers stayed golden as Ty Floyd pitched a gem and LSU scored 21 runs, breaking the program record for runs scored in the first three games. The Tigers sit at 3-0 and travel to Louisiana Tech for a one-game series Wednesday Night starting at 6 PM.

Here’s the full D1Baseball poll for this week.

Rank Team Overall Record Record Last Week Previous Rank
1 Texas 3-0 3-0 1
2 Arkansas 2-1 2-1 2
3 Ole Miss 3-0 3-0 5
4 Oklahoma State 2-1 2-1 7
5 Vanderbilt 1-2 1-2 3
6 Stanford 2-1 2-1 6
7 Mississippi State 1-2 1-2 4
8 LSU 3-0 3-0 8
9 NC State 3-0 3-0 10
10 Florida State 3-0 3-0 11
11 Arizona 3-0 3-0 15
12 Long Beach State 2-1 2-1 24
13 Notre Dame 2-1 2-1 13
14 Oregon State 4-0 4-0 18
15 Florida 1-2 1-2 9
16 Georgia 3-0 3-0 16
17 TCU 2-1 2-1 17
18 Tennessee 3-0 3-0 19
19 Georgia Tech 3-0 3-0 21
20 Texas Tech 1-2 1-2 14
21 Liberty 2-1 2-1 NR
22 Maryland 3-0 3-0 NR
23 Duke 2-1 2-1 23
24 Miami 4-0 4-0 25
25 East Carolina 0-3 0-3 12
Dropped Out
UC Irvine 1-2 1-2 20
Dallas Baptist 1-2 1-2 22

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Purple Rain: Tigers take Game 2 against Maine

The Tigers took the series with a 17-8 win on Saturday, and they’ll look for the sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m. CST.

No, I’m not talking about Prince, but there is a possibility that doves were crying with all of the home runs hit at “The Box” today.

A couple of stats before we get into the meat of things: the Tigers had a 12-inning stretch of scoring at least one run per inning that ended in the bottom of the eighth in a 17-8 win over Maine in Game 2 on Saturday. Two Tigers were one hit away from hitting for the cycle, Cade Doughty and Dylan Crews.

The Tigers wasted no time getting it going this afternoon as Doughty hit a three-run homer in the first inning that scored Tre’ Morgan and Crews. That was followed up by a Gavin Dugas RBI single to make the lead 4-0 Tigers after one inning.

After the Black Bears were retired silently in the top of the second, Brayden Jobert continued his hot start with a sacrifice fly for an RBI to extend the lead to 5-0. Maine finally got on the board in the top of the third against the Tigers starting pitcher, Ma’Khail Hilliard.

It is a common trend in the game of baseball that if the leadoff hitter gets on base, most of the time they wind up scoring. That is exactly what happened in the third for Hilliard. A hit by pitch, a single, and a double, and just like that, Maine started trying to claw their way back into the game.

The Tigers then proceeded to get two of those three runs back in the bottom of the third with a Tre Morgan sacrifice fly and a Dylan Crews double to extend the lead to 7-3 after three innings. Jack Merrifield got involved in the scoring spree with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to make it 8-3 Tigers after four innings.

Maine got an RBI double in the top of the fifth inning that chased Hilliard from the mound. Hilliard worked the first four innings and was charged with five runs, (three earned runs), four hits, one walk, and two strikeouts. Javen Coleman (1-0) came in from the bullpen and ended up earning the win for the Tigers after giving up one run on one hit, no walks, and three strikeouts over three innings.

Those two runs in the top of the fifth trimmed the lead to 8-5. That’s when things got out of hand.

Doughty hit an RBI double, Jobert hit a two-RBI double, and Merrifield hit a two-RBI single to make it 13-5 at the end of five innings. Maine hit a solo homer in the top of the sixth and then came the arrival of Jacob Berry to the fun.

Berry hit his first homer as a Tiger and that was followed by a Crews triple and another Doughty RBI to make it 15-6 after six innings. Then, in the bottom of the seventh, Berry was back at it again with a two-run blast to right field that made it 17-6. Maine scored two in the top of the eighth inning to make it 17-8, the ultimate final score.

LSU scored 17 runs on 17 hits while giving up eight runs on nine hits. For those keeping count, that’s 30 runs on 29 hits in two games. You would think Baton Rouge was located on the equator with how hot the Tiger bats are. LSU wraps up the series Sunday against Maine with the first pitch at 1 p.m CST as it looks to complete the sweep.

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Tigers start the 2022 season strong with a win over Maine

Tigers take the opener behind Blake Money’s seven-inning performance.

Pinstripes, punchouts, and a packed house at Alex Box Stadium. Ah, baseball season is back in the Bayou.

The No. 8 LSU Tigers did NOT disappoint against the Maine Black Bears as the Tigers won 13-1. There were a lot of questions going into the season about how the lineup would look and how the pitching staff would look. The Tigers have plenty of great talent, so it was up to new head coach Jay Johnson to figure out where each piece fit in.

It all started with the opening day first pitch from former Tigers head coach and Hall of Famer, Paul Mainieri. After that, it became the Money show. By that, I mean the Blake Money show.

AP Photo/Matthew Hinton

The 6-foot-7-inch, 235-pound Sophomore came out throwing darts. He pitched 7 innings and gave up two hits, one walk, and 10 strikeouts. It was the first time since Jake Tompkins in 2003 that an opening day starter recorded 10 or more strikeouts.

I know what you’re thinking, “We’ve seen all the posts and the preseason hype around the golden spike award watch lists and preseason All-American hitters. How’d they do?” We’ll get to those guys, but they weren’t the ones that really stole the show on Friday Night.

That title goes to Brayden Jobert.

A man that wasn’t even in the starting lineup made the biggest impact in the batter’s box. Jobert played at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, Louisiana, last year where he earned JUCO All-American honors. There he d batted .386 with 15 doubles, 16 homers, 71 RBI, a .813 slugging percentage, and a .469 on-base percentage.

Who had the first hit of the 2022 season? Who scored the first run of the 2022 season? The answer to both of those questions is Brayden Jobert. He hit a single during his first at-bat and during his second at-bat, he hit a homerun to Right Field. He finished the night 2-for-2 with two RBI, a single, a sac-fly, and a homer. That one run in the fourth inning was all the Tigers needed, but they didn’t stop there. The bats got HOT and the Tigers ended with 13 runs on 12 hits.

Winning Pitcher: Blake Money (1-0)

LSU will play Maine again tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. at “The Box”.

LSU lands three on Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List

The Tigers are the only school with three players on the watch list.

LSU begins its baseball season on Friday night against Maine, and this team is getting quite a bit of hype entering the year. The Tigers lead the nation with three players on the 2022 Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List released by USA Baseball on Tuesday.

The announcement of the 55-player watch list begins the process of identifying the top amateur baseball player in the country for the 2022 season. The LSU players on the Golden Spikes Award Watch list are, sophomore outfielder Dylan Crews, sophomore first baseman Tre’ Morgan, and sophomore infielder Jacob Berry.

LSU is the only school with three players on the list and is followed by Arizona State, Arkansas, California, Florida, Ole Miss, Texas, and Vanderbilt, all of which have two representatives.

Crews, the 2021 Perfect Game National Freshman of the Year, hit .362 last season with 16 doubles, two triples, 18 homers, 42 RBI, 64 runs scored, and 12 stolen bases. The product of Longwood, Florida, also received All-America, Freshman All-America, Second-Team All-SEC, and Freshman All-SEC recognition, and he was voted the Louisiana Freshman of the Year.

He finished No. 1 in the SEC last season in total bases (163), No. 3 in batting average, No. 3 in on-base percentage (.453), No. 4 in base hits, No. 4 in runs scored, No. 5 in doubles, and No. 5 in home runs.

Morgan, a product of New Orleans, La., batted .357 (89-for-249) in 2021 with 16 doubles, four triples, six homers, 42 RBI, 64 runs scored, and 15 stolen bases. He received Freshman All-America, Second-Team All-SEC, and Freshman All-SEC honors,  and he was named to the SEC All-Defensive Team. He finished No. 4 in the SEC in batting average, No. 4 in base hits, No. 4 in runs scored, No. 4 in triples, No. 5 in doubles, No. 5 in stolen bases, and No. 7 in on-base percentage (.441).

Berry, who transferred last summer to LSU from Arizona, led the Wildcats to the 2021 College World Series and the Pac-12 championship.

A product of Queen Creek, Ariz., Berry batted .352 in 2021 with team-highs of 17 homers and 70 RBI, and Collegiate Baseball newspaper named him the National Co-Freshman of the Year. Berry earned first-team All-America recognition from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, and he received second-team All-America honors from D1Baseball and Perfect Game.

This will be the first season with Jay Johnson at the helm after longtime coach Paul Mainieri retired at the end of last season following a 15-year tenure. Johnson made the College World Series twice in his previous job at Arizona, and he’ll have quite a bit of talent to work with this offseason.

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