A whole lot of shakin' going on provides LSU with SEC series win
LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson and Tigers’ starting pitcher Ty Floyd shook up the LSU and Georgia batting orders respectively Friday.
Johnson’s rearranged batting order provided solo homers by third baseman Tommy White and catcher Hayden Travinski and Floyd’s right arm induced Bulldogs’ batters into a scoreless hypnotic five-inning trance in an 8-4 LSU road victory that clinched the No. 4 ranked Tigers’ seventh and final SEC series win of the season.
“I think we’ve played two very good games,," Johnson said. “I like how we have responded all weekend in a park that’s particularly tough to pitch in."
LSU (42-12, 18-9 SEC West) goes for the series sweep Saturday at 12 noon in the final game of the regular season. Left-hander Javen Coleman starts on the mound for the Tigers.
Johnson hopes Coleman can get the Tigers rolling towards a win like Floyd, who gave up all of Georgia’s runs on a pair of two-run homers by third baseman Parks Harber in the first inning and by shortstop Christian Murillo in the seventh.
After Harber’s dinger gave the Bulldogs a 2-0, lead, Floyd blanked Georgia for five innings.
In that stretch, none of the three base runners allowed by Floyd advanced past second base. He retired Georgia three up and three down in the third, fifth and sixth innings and faced just four batters in the second and fourth innings.
By the time he exited at the end of the seventh after allowing five hits while striking out seven and walking one, the Tigers had the victory stowed.
“Ty starting like that simplifies the game for the rest of the staff and helps those guys be better., Johnson said. “It also helps our hitters relax a little bit. It was a really good performance.”
Johnson shuffled LSU’s batting order, moving center fielder Dylan Crews from the third spot to leadoff, White from fourth to second, left fielder Tre’ Morgan from second to third, Travinski from fifth to four and first baseman Cade Beloso from sixth to fifth.
All five players involved in switches had at least one hit and combined for seven of LSU nine hits, six runs and four RBI.
It took LSU two times through the batting order to figure out Georgia starting pitcher Charlie Goldstein. The third time was charm.
LSU took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth after Goldstein loaded the bases with no outs and walked Tigers’ right fielder Josh Peason to force in LSU’s first run. Crews followed with an RBI single before third baseman White’s RBI sacrifice fly.
“Those were some good at bats in the fourth inning that set us up with the walks and hit by pitches,” Johnson said. “Then you have Dylan and Tommy there, which is exactly where you want to be, and they execute. Ty came back out and went three up, three down to continue to control the momentum. It allowed us to go out and immediately put more runs on the board and then once again in the sixth with Tommy and Hayden.”
The Tigers expanded their margin to 6-2 with three-run fifth keyed by Pearson’s two-out, two-RBI single off Georgia reliever Kyle Greenlar.
Greenlar’s night ended when White hit a first-pitch solo homer to open the sixth followed two batters later by Travinski’s homer.
After LSU's Riley Cooper relieved Floyd to start the Georgia, Cooper allowed a single against the only batter he faced.
Freshman reliever Gavin Guidry entered the game and quickly cleaned up Cooper’s mistake. He struck out the first two batters and forced a flyout to right field to squelch the threat.
"They're really good and they're playing really well," Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin said of LSU. "Coming into this weekend, they had a couple of rough weekends.
"But it's a really talented team. They're kind of clicking on all cylinders. They're making defensive plays, they've got great arms and it's just a really talented lineup. It's as deep a lineup as you'll see in the country."