Tigers take down Commodores in Jacob Berry’s return

LSU got its road series in Nashville started on a high note.

Only three games remained in the regular season heading into this weekend, and the battle for higher seeding in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments is as hot as it could possibly get as the LSU Tigers took a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, to play the Commodores of Vanderbilt.

With a dominant 13-2 win on Thursday night, LSU took Game 1 and will look to clinch the final series of the season on Friday.

[autotag]Ma’Khail Hilliard[/autotag] got the start on the mound for the Tigers, who donned their gold uniforms for Game 1, and pitched a gem as he went 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits and four strikeouts. LSU loaded the bases in the top of the first inning but the Tigers were unable to score any runs.

In the top of the second inning, [autotag]Jordan Thompson[/autotag] stepped into the batter’s box and started a scoring spree with a solo homer over the green monster in left field. [autotag]Brayden Jobert[/autotag] followed that with a single, and [autotag]Tyler McManus[/autotag] walked to bring [autotag]Collier Cranford[/autotag] to the plate with two runners on and no outs.

Cranford came through with an RBI single to score Jobert, and just like that, it was 2-0 LSU. In stepped [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag] with runners on the corners and no outs, and he hit a three-run Crews Missile to right field to make it 5-0 Tigers.

In the words of Lionel Richie, “Hello, is it me you’re looking for?”

Why yes it is, [autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag]. Long time, no see, old friend.

The No. 1 collegiate prospect returned to the lineup from injury after missing the last few weeks. He followed the Crews missile with his second hit of the evening before he scored on a Thompson double to make it 6-0 LSU.

In the top of the fourth inning, the LSU offense unloaded again as Crews led off the inning with a double and then advanced to third on a throwing error. He then scored on a Berry groundout to make it 7-0 Tigers. Up until this point in the game, every LSU hitter had been on base — except for one: Cade Doughty.

Doughty was not going to miss out on that opportunity as he hit a two-run blast to left-center field to make it 9-0.

Vanderbilt was able to plate a pair of runs over the next two innings to trim the lead to 9-2 LSU. In the top of the sixth, Crews scored on an RBI single by Morgan to make it 10-2 Tigers. In the top of the seventh inning, Jobert joined in on the home run party as he hit a solo shot to dead center to make it 11-2.

The Tigers weren’t done scoring yet though, as, in the top of the ninth inning, Doughty hit his second homer of the ballgame to extend the lead to 12-2. Crews followed that with an RBI single to short to make the final 13-2 LSU.

With the win, LSU moves to 35-18 overall and 15-13 in conference play. Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Friday night at 6 p.m. CT. as the Tigers look to take the series and try and secure the No. 5 seed for the SEC Tournament.

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