SHREVEPORT, La. — Justin Meier allowed two hits in five shutout innings in his LSU pitching debut, and the Fighting Tigers collected eight extra base hits to overwhelm Centenary, 15-0 on Tuesday night at Fair Grounds Field, extending LSU’s winning streak over the Gents to 21 consecutive games.
The margin of victory was the largest for LSU (4-0) since a 20-5 victory over Auburn on May 11, 2001, and the most lopsided shutout since blanking Louisiana-Monroe 21-0 in the 2000 Baton Rouge regional.
LSU (No. 6 Collegiate Baseball, No. 7 ESPN/USA Today, No. 8 Baseball America) is off to its first 4-0 start since its national championship season in 2000, and four of the Tigers’ five championships have come after starts of 6-0 or better.
The Tigers begin a seven-game homestand this weekend with a three-game series against Kansas of the Big 12 Conference. The series opener is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday, followed by game two at 2 p.m. Saturday and the finale at 1 p.m. Sunday.
J.C. Holt led the Tigers’ 17-hit attack, as the sophomore center fielder fell only a single short of hitting for the cycle, collecting a triple in the second, a home run in the seventh and a double in the eighth and notched three RBI. Blake Gill, the Tigers’ leading hitter at .500, went 2-for-4 and now has two hits in every game this season, while Quinn Stewart, Ivan Naccarata, Aaron Hill and Jon Zeringue also had two hits each.
Twelve of the 14 LSU players who made a plate appearance collected a hit, and the 19 hits are the most for LSU since banging out 24 last May 4 at Tennessee.
Stewart collected his first career extra base hit with a one out double in the first, and although Centenary starter Patrick Rhodes got Naccarata on a called third strike, he quickly fell behind when he yielded back-to-back opposite field hits, an RBI triple by Hill to right center and an RBI double by Gill to left center.
Reliever David Ruffing appeared to have the inning under control when he got Ryan Patterson to pop up to the mound, but the ball came out of the glove of Gents’ catcher Larry Branson, allowing Gill to score from second. Ruffing ended the inning by picking Patterson off of first base.
Rhodes, who gave up four runs on six hits in six innings in last year’s game against LSU, lasted just two-thirds of an inning, yielding three runs (two earned) on three hits.
The early runs would be more than enough for Meier, a true freshman from Windmere, Fla., who retired the final 10 batters he faced in succession to pick up the win. Three LSU pitchers preserved the shutout, with Jason Determann working two innings and Jordan Faircloth and Billy Sadler one inning each.
The Gents loaded the bases in the bottom of the first after an infield single by Jon Marshall, but Meier worked his way out of the jam by getting J.W. Pate to fly to Patterson in left for the last out. Meier faced the minimum number of batters over the final four innings, as Alex Valdivia singled in the second but was thrown out by Matt Liuzza trying to steal second.
Matt Horwath scored the Tiger run in the second on Holt’s triple deep into the gap in right center, and in the third, Gill’s two-out triple kept the inning alive for Patterson, who singled home Gill and went to second on the throw before scoring himself on Zeringue’s base hit.
Holt led off the seventh with the Tigers’ second home run of the season, and LSU would add another run in the seventh on an RBI single by Hill and two more in the eighth on Naccarata’s double that scored Holt behind pinch runner Rhett Buteau.
LSU (4-0) 312 000 225– 15 18 1
Centenary (3-3) 000 000 000– 0 6 4
Justin Meier, Jason Determann (6), Jordan Faircloth (8) and Matt Liuzza, Shawn French (8); Patrick Rhodes, David Ruffing (1), J.C. Biagi (6), Dan Bria (7), Kevin Willborn (8) and Larry Branson.
WP–Meier, 1-0.
LP–Rhodes, 0-2.
2B–LSU: Quinn Stewart (1), Blake Gill (2), J.C. Holt (1) Ivan Naccarata; Centenary: J.W. Pate (1).
3B–LSU: Aaron Hill (1), Holt (1), Gill (1).
HR–LSU: Holt (1).
T–2:37.
A–2,924.