Welcoming its first Southeastern Conference opponent to UFCU Disch-Falk Field, No. 8 Texas baseball faced its biggest challenge of the season — No. 2 LSU baseball.
The Tigers established they were the best hitting team in the conference, chopping up the Longhorns’ pitchers to take a dominant 8-2 game-one victory over Texas.
“That’s just the life of this league,” head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “There’s really really good SEC teams, really good teams, that have bad conference records at the moment.”
However, LSU did not jump out of the gates quickly. Senior pitcher Jared Spencer’s initial three innings were solid, compiling five strikeouts and only allowing two hits.
Dominance on the mound translated to the plate. The Longhorns hit three singles in the bottom of the third inning, with junior shortstop Jalin Flores’ single bringing home sophomore outfielder Will Gasparino for the Longhorns’ only lead of the game.
Raising his pitch count early, the Tigers stretched Spencer out as they began to take over the game at the plate, quickly wearing out the Longhorn. Facing his former Indiana State teammate, LSU senior catcher Luis Hernadez fired a home run deep toward left field, bringing home his teammate to take a 2-1 lead.
Trotting out for the fifth, Spencer stayed on the mound despite the Tigers piling on their growing lead. A sacrifice fly brought junior infielder Daniel Dickinson home. Hernandez got his second hit off his former teammate for another RBI as the Tigers took a commanding 4-1 lead.
“I wasn’t perfect today, fell behind on a lot of counts, and I think it showed a little bit,” Spencer said. “You’re not perfect every day, and baseball is hard, so I think I put up a pretty good fight tonight.”
Spencer’s appearance was done, throwing a career-high 96 pitches as senior pitcher Andre Duplantier II replaced him to start the sixth. With the throttle fully down, the Tigers figured out Duplantier II by his second inning on the mound. LSU banged off five hits over the pitcher, four singles and a double to put four more runs on the board.
Locking down the mound for six innings, LSU sophomore pitcher Kade Anderson and his fielding backdrop shuttered any offensive movement in the infield by Texas. Anderson threw for 101 pitches, striking out eight batters and only allowing a meager seven hits and two runs.
LSU junior relief pitcher Zac Cowan did not give Texas any leeway during his three innings on the mound. Closing the game, the Longhorns struggled at the plate against Cowan, only mustering a single hit on him.
The Longhorns look to split the series as they return for their second game against the Tigers tomorrow at 6 p.m. at home.
“Luke (Harrison) needs to fill the strike zone and we got to be on the fastball, the right-hander they got going tomorrow got a really good breaking ball, got a really good arm,” Schlossnagle said. “This ain’t no I-AA Tigers, this is the LSU Tigers.”
