Solo home runs by first baseman Jared Jones, designated hitter Hayden Travinski and catcher Brady Neal helped to fuel the LSU offense. The Tigers return to action at 7 p.m. CT Friday when they open a three-game SEC series at Missouri. Friday’s game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network and televised on the SEC Network.
by Bill Franques
BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU blasted three home runs Tuesday night, and seven pitchers combined to allow just three runs as the Tigers posted a 6-3 win over the University of New Orleans in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
LSU improved to 23-15 on the year, while UNO dropped to 21-15.
The Tigers return to action at 7 p.m. CT Friday when they open a three-game SEC series at Missouri. Friday’s game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network and televised on the SEC Network.
Solo home runs by first baseman Jared Jones, designated hitter Hayden Travinski and catcher Brady Neal helped to fuel the LSU offense.
Right-hander Christian Little (1-0), the fourth of seven LSU pitchers, was credited with the win as he worked 1.1 innings and limited UNO to no runs on no hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
Right-hander Fidel Ulloa earned his second save of the season by working a scoreless ninth inning with one strikeout.
“It was a good effort, starting on the mound,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “It was kind of a redemption game for our pitchers who had had some bumps in the road recently. I was anxious to get a lot of them out on the mound tonight, and they performed really well across the board.”
Little and Ulloa combined with fellow pitchers Thatcher Hurd, Samuel Dutton, Javen Coleman, Justin Loer and Will Hellmers to limit the Privateers to three runs on six hits with eight strikeouts.
The LSU defense also executed a season-high three double plays on Tuesday night to aid the pitchers’ effort.
UNO reliever Trey Usey (0-2) was charged with the loss as he allowed three runs on three hits in 1.0 inning with one walk and no strikeouts.
UNO led 2-0 in the first inning when rightfielder Mitchell Sanford launched a two-run homer, but LSU cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the first with an RBI single by third baseman Tommy White.
The Privateers extended the lead to 3-1 in the third on a solo homer by second baseman Diego Villescas before Jones homered in the fourth to narrow the gap to 3-2.
Second baseman Steven Milam lined a run-scoring triple and White provided an RBI groundout in the fifth to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead.
Solo homers by Travinski and Neal in the sixth increased the LSU advantage to 6-3.
“What I’m going to commit to is being incredibly positive with our team,” Johnson said. “As a coaching staff, we’re going to communicate with them at a high level. Obviously, this season is not over, and the story is not written. All of our players want to develop, and they definitely want to win, and our coaching staff is going to give them the best we’ve got.”