Just when fans thought LSU baseball could not play any better than Friday night, the Tigers one-upped its Friday performance in Saturday night’s 12-0 win over Dallas Baptist.

LSU’s dominate win versus the Patriots marks the first time in program history that the Tigers shutout its opponents in the first two games of a regional.

 

ANDERSON SHINES

LSU ace Kade Anderson helped lift the Tigers into a regional championship without using its best bullpen arms after going a full seven innings. Anderson only gave up four hits, walked two, struck out eleven and did not allow one run on the night. With the win, Anderson improves to 9-1 this season.

Anderson has been a catalyst for the LSU pitching staff all season, leading the country in strikeouts with 156. He is now tied for sixth place for LSU’s single season strikeouts with right-hander Russ Springer (1988) and left-hander Eddie Yarnall (1996).

“Obviously it starts and ends on the mound. And Kade, as Kade has been all year, was the best pitcher on the planet tonight. And (he) executed at a high level,” head coach Jay Johnson said.

Anderson added that he thinks Eyanson and his starts help the bullpen for tomorrow. Anderson said, “I think as a starting pitcher your goal is to save the pen as much as you can for the next game. We got too many pitchers and not enough innings tomorrow.”

Anderson started out with a little trouble in the second inning. He walked the first batter in the inning and gave up a single right after a Jay Johnson mound visit. Anderson came back and struck out DBU right fielder Ben Tryon.

The left-handed ace also got some help from his defense when Derek Curiel ended the inning with a double play sliding catch in left field and relaying the throw back to Jared Jones to make DBU pay after a baserunning mistake.

Anderson got better as the game went on, producing more swings and misses than he did earlier in the game. Anderson’s fastball and slider gave DBU trouble all night as he got 11 Patriots to strike out.

 

HITTING IS CONTAGIOUS

Exactly one week ago, LSU baseball only totaled two hits in its loss versus Ole Miss. A week later, the Tigers have put together two 10+ hit games in a row. The bats are getting hot at the right time.

DBU starting pitcher Micah Bucknam would struggle in his first game back to Baton Rouge since transferring after last season.

Just when Bucknam thought he would get out of the first inning scot-free, Daniel Dickinson and Jake Brown would find themselves on base when Ethan Frey would start the scoring for the Tigers. Frey sat on a Bucknam slider and drove it opposite field past the first baseman for a 2-RBI double.

The saying “hitting is contagious” must be true because LSU took it to heart throughout the rest of the game. The Tigers got twelve runs on ten hits with help from Ethan Frey, Chris Stanfield and Luis Hernandez – each tallying at least an RBI.

Junior outfielder Chris Stanfield impressed as he went 3-4 to go along with his first HR of the season and 3 RBIs. By hitting in the nine hole, Stanfield gets many opportunities to drive in runs as well as flipping the lineup over to the top, which is something he embraces.

“Being in the 9 hole there’s a lot of versatility. Sometimes I might need to bunt and get the bat to DC or drive a guy in and really just being there and being a team player more than anything, just enjoying the opportunities,” Stanfield said.

With the home run, Stanfield becomes the 14th player on this LSU baseball team to hit a home run this season, which is the most LSU players to homer in a season since 2009 where LSU had 15 players homer. Stanfield had a team-best in doubles and batting percentage in conference play for LSU.

 

What’s Next?

The Tigers look to carry its momentum into Sunday’s regional championship game at 8 p.m. LSU’s starting pitcher is TBD. TV announcements are also TBD.