BATON ROUGE — A five-run first inning highlighted by freshman Michael Hollander’s two-RBI double proved to be just enough run support for three LSU pitchers in a 6-3 victory over Nicholls State, securing a series sweep for the Tigers on Monday night at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU (3-0) won their seventh straight series and sixth at home, dating back to a series victory over Georgia last season. The Colonels (0-3) dropped their 12th consecutive contest to the Tigers and host Grambling State in a three-game series this weekend.
Monday’s game was originally scheduled for Sunday, but rain forced the postponement until tonight.
LSU (No. 2 Baseball America, No. 3 ESPN/Sports Weekly, No. 5 Collegiate Baseball) will play its fourth game in five days when UL-Monroe visits Alex Box Stadium Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. Delgado Community College transfer Chase Dardar is set to make his first career start.
Junior left-hander Greg Smith (1-0) earned the win on Monday in his first career start, working into the sixth inning, allowing two runs (all earned) on six hits and walking one. Smith fired a career high nine strikeouts, the most by an LSU pitcher since Justin Meier fanned nine against Army in the NCAA Regional last season.
For the second consecutive game, LSU exploded in the first inning set up by three straight walks to Quinn Stewart, Ryan Patterson and Clay Harris. A sacrifice fly by Bryan Harris gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
Blake Gill, then wasted little time extending his hitting streak to a team-high 17 games with his RBI liner to right, while Jordan Mayer continued his torrid start with an RBI single of his own. Hollander’s two-run double closed out the frame.
The Colonels had serious scoring threats in the fourth and sixth, but Smith was able to get critical full-count punchouts when he needed it, limiting Nicholls to one run in each frame. Anthony Hatch scored on a wild pitch in the fourth and Bubba Bell’s RBI double cut the deficit to 6-2. Michael Roberts added a run on his fielder’s choice groundball in the seventh.
Even though Smith labored through his outing, he was able to pick off three Colonel runners on the basepaths, mistakes that proved costly and minimized any kind of damage.
“The pickoff move really helped me a lot,” said Smith. “I was struggling with some pitches in the zone early. I think the anxiety and nerves got to me a little bit.”
Head coach Smoke Laval echoed Smith’s words.
“A good pick off move kept the game moving and took the momentum away from them,” said Laval. “When you control the running game, you get momentum from that when you don’t have your ‘A’ game.”
Nicholls starter Marcus Markray (0-1) completed his work in the fourth after allowing five runs on just three hits. The southpaw walked six and struck out two.
Reliever Ray Labat handcuffed the Tiger bats the rest of the way, surrendering just two hits over the final four innings.
Senior Jordan Faircloth registered his first save, allowing no runs, one hit and striking out two in his first appearance of the season.
LSU 6, Nicholls State 3 (Feb 14, 2005 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Nicholls State…… 000 101 100 – 3 8 4 (0-3)
LSU……………………. 500 010 00X – 6 5 0 (3-0)
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Pitchers: Nicholls State – Markray, Mar; Labat, Ray(5). LSU – Smith; Ramirez(6); Faircloth(9).
Win-Smith(1-0) Save-Faircloth(1) Loss-Markray, Mar(0-1) T-2:39 A-7118
Actual attendance: 1,920