COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Right-hander Paul Skenes jumped up and down after he struck out his eleventh batter to close the sixth inning against Texas A&M on Friday at Blue Bell Park.
He went on to face one batter in the seventh, inducing a flyout before he was pulled. The circle of players on the mound hugged him one-by-one before he walked off to meet the tunnel of teammates waiting to high-five him on his way to the dugout.
Skenes blanked an Aggie lineup through 6⅓ innings, giving up four hits against those 11 strikeouts. He didn’t walk a single batter as No. 1 LSU rode his start to a 9-0 victory No. 15 Texas A&M to open Southeastern Conference play.
The Tigers’ (17-1) offense got off to a hot start, but tapered after three innings. Both Tre’ Morgan and Dylan Crews lined back-to-back singles and Tommy White drew a walk to load the bases with one out in the first inning. Morgan then scored on Gavin Dugas’ sac fly and Crews came in on Josh Pearson’s single.
Pearson made his fourth start of the season. While he has appeared in 12 of LSU’s past 17 games, Pearson had taken the back seat when Morgan moved to left field for 10 games. Pearson started 35 of the 51 games he appeared in last season as a freshman. He finished Friday night going 2 for 4 at the plate with a walk and two RBIs.
Morgan and Crews were the first to crack the bats again in the third. Morgan singled to left field, then Crews doubled to right field, advancing him to third. Morgan scored on a wild pitch and White drove in Crews on a single to give LSU the 4-0 lead.
Morgan and Crews both went 2 for 3 at the plate. Morgan drew one walk and Crews drew two. White went 2 for 4 with three RBIs.
Crews rode his hitting streak 16 straight games. He entered Friday’s game with a .519 batting average, which ranked third nationally, and a team-high of 18 walks and .926 slugging percentage. His .653 on-base percentage leads the nation.
While the Tigers tattooed Aggies (13-5) starting pitcher Nathan Dettmer with six hits through the first three innings, he didn’t allow anymore after that in his outing. Dettmer pitched six innings, gave up four earned runs, walked four and struck out five before left-hander Shane Sdao relieved him in the seventh.
The Aggies (13-5) threatened in the bottom of the eighth, advancing a runner to third for the first time the game — it was also the first time since the first inning the Aggies had a runner in scoring position — when Hunter Haas doubled down the left field line.
LSU reliever Nate Ackenhausen, who walked one and struck out two to retire the side in the seventh inning, returned to the mound in the eighth struggling to find the zone. He walked two and punched out one and coaxed a groundout that advanced the runners to scoring position.
Christian Little came on in relief, inducing a flyout to Morgan to strand the runners.
Aggie right-handed closer Carson Lambert threw 43 pitches in the top of ninth inning trying to get the Tigers out. Instead, he gave up five runs.
Paxton Kling doubled to kick it off, then Morgan was hit by a pitch and Crews walked. White hit a long ball that curved foul as it cleared the pole in right field, and after another foul, lined a ball through the right-side gap to plate two runners for a 6-0 lead. The next three runs were scored on Pearson’s walk with the bases loaded, Jared Jones’ sac fly and Milazzo’s groundout.
Little returned in the ninth to finish off the Aggies.
LSU will return to Blue Bell Park at 2 p.m. on Saturday to try to capture the series win.
Leave a Reply