LSU baseball hits back-to-back-to-back homers for first time since 2019, White nears 80 RBIs in win

Just a few hours before tonight’s midweek matchup against Northwestern State, clouds and thunder filled the sky and put the instate matchup in jeopardy.

For those fans that drove in from Natchitoches, it was likely a huge relief to see blue skies and the sun out by the time they got to Alex Box Stadium.  

That improvement in weather wouldn’t alleviate some of the waning wariness left behind from LSU’s midweek losses in late-April, but by the third, they had completely disappeared.

After pitching three straight balls in the second, Northwestern State pitcher Ethan Francis finally delivered a fastball to the middle of the strike zone, finding the bat of Tommy White and getting launched over the scoreboard. That marked his 17th home run and 76th RBI of the season, and he and the Tiger offense weren’t particularly close to being done. 

Cade Beloso and Hayden Travinski followed him up with home runs of their own, as LSU hit three consecutive homers for the first time since May 5, 2019. Beloso was notably part of both occasions. 

“I just looked at him and was like ‘Bro, are we all about to do this right now,” shortstop Jordan Thompson said after seeing Travinski’s shot over the left-field wall. “You always love to see that, home runs back-to-back-to-back like that.” 

The third inning would trump the second in terms of impact and scoring output, as after allowing Northwestern State to narrow their lead to one, the Tigers scored seven runs to obtain an eight-run lead. White once again kicked off the inning’s fireworks, as his single through the left side allowed Dugas to advance all the way from second to home.

Nothing could slow down the LSU offense in the third. A pitching switch from the Demons was met with a single strikeout followed by five RBIs, as a perfectly placed single up the middle from Brayden Jobert got Beloso and White home, then Jordan Thompson’s ninth home run of the season earned them three more. 

From there, all that was essentially left was for the defense to continue to do what it was doing and for the Tigers to reach and maintain a ten-run lead until the seventh. And when Tommy White stepped up to the bat in the bottom of the sixth with two on base, most had a vague idea of what was coming.  

White would earn his third and fourth RBI of the game on the at-bat, crushing a fair ball down the leftfield line and allowing Dylan Crews and Paxton Kling to get home. He’d get within one of 80 RBIs on the season, just five off Maryland’s Nick Lorusso with four less games played than him. When Johnson was asked what made him unique compared to other batters, he credited his vision. 

“They’re in the .0001 percentile in terms of their vision and cognitive reactionary skills,” Johnson said on White and Dylan Crews. “They can make late decisions because of their eyes, so that helps their plate discipline and they have so much bat speed that they can react. You can’t sneak a fastball by them, but they have unbelievable balance to recognize a mistake breaker and hit it as well.” 

With Micah Bucknam’s final strikeout in the seventh inning, LSU run-ruled for the 13th time this season, defeating the Demons 14-4. Its next bout comes in its series opener against Mississippi State at Alex Box, its SEC home finale. 

A win there would have them finish the regular season without dropping a conference series at home.