Thatcher Hurd takes a step forward and LSU’s bats come to life in win over Texas State

HOUSTON — LSU coach Jay Johnson has never had the luxury of having three Friday-caliber starting pitchers. 

Until now.

“It took me 20 years to get here,” Johnson said after Saturday’s win over UL.

That’s potentially where the LSU’s starting rotation stands following its 10-5 win on Sunday over Texas State, its third victory in three days at the Astros Foundation College Classic.

For the first 15⅓ innings of this weekend’s event at Minute Maid Park, against Texas, UL and Texas State, LSU’s starters didn’t allow a single run. It took until the fifth inning of Sunday’s matchup for that streak to end.

Right-hander Thatcher Hurd — who struggled with a 9.00 ERA in his first two outings as the Friday starter but was a hero for LSU (11-1) in Omaha last season — took the ball Sunday and struck out five batters in five innings, allowing just two earned runs.

His shutout ended after Michael Braswell couldn’t cleanly field a ground ball to his right at shortstop, allowing a run to score with two outs. The Bobcats (7-4) scored two more runs in the inning, one earned and another not, before Hurd finally got out of the jam in the fifth.

Hurd wasn’t perfect — he gave up seven hits — but he pounded the strike zone and showed good movement with his fastball, finishing his outing throwing 83 pitches.

While Hurd threw the ball well, LSU’s offense feasted off the Bobcats’ pitching staff.

Six Tigers had multiple hits: Josh Pearson, Hayden Travinski, Tommy White, Brady Neal, Steven Milam and Jake Brown. Pearson’s solo-home run in the third inning gave LSU its first run of the afternoon. Brown’s run-scoring double brought in the first of five runs in the fourth.

By the end of the fourth, LSU had 10 hits and a 6-0 lead. Texas State responded to its big inning with a three-run fifth, but the Tigers fought back with two runs of their own in the sixth. Travinski and Milam hit run-scoring doubles to increase the LSU lead to five.

In relief of Hurd was right-hander Christian Little, left-hander Javen Coleman, left-hander DJ Primeaux and right-hander Gavin Guidry.

Little threw a scoreless sixth inning despite allowing two hits. Coleman replaced him in the seventh and didn’t allow a run or a hit over the next 2⅔ innings but was replaced by Primeaux with two outs in the ninth after walking the bases loaded.

Primeaux allowed two inherited runners to score on a single that cut LSU’s lead to five. Johnson then immediately replaced him with Guidry who recorded a strikeout to end the game.

LSU is back in action on Wednesday against Southeastern on the road. First pitch from Hammond is scheduled for 6 p.m. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.