TigerBait.com - Another sweep for Tigers

March 1, 2009

Bryan Lazare
TigerBait.com Senior Writer

There was no letdown by LSU in its series finale against Central Florida on Sunday afternoon at The Box.

In fact, the Tigers came out swinging the bats so well that coach Paul Mainieri began removing the starters after three innings. By that time, LSU had scored 14 runs en route to a 16-0 victory against the Knights.

The Tigers have opened the season with seven consecutive victories for the first time in four years. The last time LSU began the year with more than seven straight victories was 1997 when it won its first 19 games.

LSU scored in double figures in all three games against Central Florida (2-5). The last time the Tigers scored at least ten runs in all three games of a series was against Duquesne a year ago.

LSU has now scored in double figures in four straight games for the first time in five seasons. The Tigers scored at least ten runs against Southeastern Louisiana and three times against Tennessee in 2003.

For the first time in school history, LSU has scored in double figures in six of its first seven games. The last time LSU had accomplished that feat during any part of a season was 2001 when it scored at least ten runs in six straight games.

Eight years ago, the Tigers reached double-digit runs three times against Duquesne, once against Nicholls State and twice against Arizona State.

Despite the offensive output Sunday, Mainieri was most impressed by the outing turned in by starting pitcher Austin Ross. In six innings, Ross allowed two base runners ? both on singles. He struck out ten.

"I was very happy with the way Austin threw the ball today," Mainieri said. "He stayed down in the zone, had a good slider and kept his pitch count down. If he throws like that on a regular basis, we're going to be in good shape."

Randy Zeigler, Louis Coleman and Ben Alsup each threw a scoreless inning to complete the shutout. Coleman, who was pitching for the first time in nine days, did allow a double and a walk. Coleman struck out one batter.

The 16-0 victory was the largest margin in a LSU shutout in nine seasons. The Tigers beat Louisiana-Monroe 21-0 in a 2000 NCAA tournament game. The last time LSU had a larger shutout victory in the regular season was against Southern (26-0) in 1998.

The Tigers' hitters scored multiple runs in each of the first three innings ? eight in the first, four in the second and two in the third. Jared Mitchell was the batting star with two home runs.

Mitchell, who had never hit more than one homer in a game at LSU, slammed a three-run homer in the first and a two-run roundtripper in the third. The five runs batted in were a career high for Mitchell.

Micah Gibbs, who was back in the lineup after sitting out Saturday's game with a bruised chest, put the Tigers ahead with a two-run single in the first. Later in the inning, Leon Landry hit a three-run homer, his fifth of the year - equaling his total in 2008.

DJ LeMahieu, Sean Ochinko and Derek Helenihi had run-scoring singles in the second. The only starters to play after the fourth inning were Ochinko and Chad Jones.

LSU didn't tack on any runs until the eighth. Austin Nola and Jones hit solo home runs in that inning.

The Tigers will return to action Tuesday night with their first road game of the season at UNO.

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