16 Iowa hits + 14 LSU runners left on base = No. 1 Tigers first loss
Poor LSU pitching performances combined with a lack of clutch hitting that left 14 runners on base resulted in the No. 1 ranked Tigers’ first loss of the season.
Iowa pitchers Brody Brecht, Jared Simpson and Will Christophersen combined for a four-hitter and 15 strikeouts as the Hawkeyes scored a dominant 12-4 Saturday afternoon victory in the Round (Rock) Texas Classic.
Iowa (4-1), which entered the game batting .263 after losing 6-0 to Sam Houston State in its Friday Round Rock debut, battered LSU (5-1) pitching for 16 hits with at least one hit in seven of nine innings.
The Hawkeyes blasted LSU starting pitcher Riley Cooper (1-1) for seven hits and five runs and then hammered Tigers’ relievers Sam Dutton, Will Hellmers and Micah Buckham for a combined nine hits and seven runs.
Iowa scored seven of its runs with two outs. Also, the top six Hawkeyes in their batting order had two or more hits each.
LSU runs were provided by center fielder Dylan Crews and first baseman Jared Jones. Crews had a two-RBI single in the fourth inning and an RBI single in the eighth. Jones had an RBI sacrifice fly in the eighth.
“We didn’t slow the game down well enough,” LSU head coach Jay Johnson said. “Maybe if we take just one more good at-bat, the game might have been a little been different. We didn’t shut them down, either. You’ve got to credit their hitters; they took good at-bats all day long.”
The Tigers' offense was hurt by the absence of Tre' Morgan, who bruised a hand in Friday's win over Kansas State. After Morgan (who leads LSU with 10 RBI) took pregame batting practice Saturday, Tigers' head coach Jay Johnson decided to pull him from the lineup.
Iowa starter Brecht kept getting himself in trouble with a lack of control before recovering and finding the strike zone.
In his 3.1 shutout innings, Brecht allowed just one hit. He issued eight walks and struck out six with six of the walks coming with no outs or one out and four of his strikeouts for second and third outs.
Iowa took a 3-0 lead in the first inning after Cooper gave up a two-out, two-strike homer to designated hitter Keaton Anthony. The Hawkeyes ended up sending seven batters to the plate before Cooper struck out Iowa catcher Ben Tallman to finally snuff the rally.
LSU appeared in perfect position to strike back in the first when the Tigers quickly loaded the bases against Brecht.
Leadoff hitter second baseman Gavin Dugas walked, right fielder Brendan Jobert singled and Crews walked. But Brecht re-grouped and struck out first baseman Jared Jones, left fielder Josh Pearson and designated hitter Tommy White.
"We set the table with the bases loaded and nobody out in the first inning, but you’ve got to give Brecht credit for getting out of it," Johnson said. "There weren’t many pitches from him in that sequence that were easy to put in play.”
LSU threatened again in the second inning when Brecht issued consecutive one-out walks to Tigers’ shortstop Jordan Thompson and third baseman Ben Nippolt. Yet, Brecht shut the door again by striking out Dugas and forcing Jobert into a third-out ground out to Iowa shortstop Michael Seegers..
After Iowa expanded its lead to 4-0 in the top of the fourth, LSU again leaving a runner on base Brecht struck out Jones and Pearson and fielded a grounder from White for the third out.
The Hawkeyes expanded their margin to 7-0 with three runs on four hits in the top of the fourth.
LSU plays its final Round Rock game Sunday at 4 p.m. vs. Sam Houston State.