Hilliard's arm, Pearson's bat fuel LSU's SEC tourney win over Kentucky
The third time pitching in the SEC tournament was finally a charm for LSU sixth-year senior starter Ma’Khail Hilliard.
He scattered four hits and struck out six in six innings as the 21st ranked Tigers finally opened play in the rain-delayed league tourney with a 11-6 victory over Kentucky that started Thursday night and ended in the wee hours of Friday morning in Hoover (Ala.) Metropolitan Stadium.
The win advanced fourth-seeded LSU (38-18) into Friday night’s winners bracket game against No.1 ranked and regular season SEC champ Tennessee. The 50-7 Vols, which won all five games against the Tigers last season including an NCAA Super Regional sweep in Knoxville, beat Vanderbilt 10-1 earlier Thursday night.
Before he took care of the Wildcats to run his 2022 record to 7-1, Hilliard had been the losing pitcher in LSU’s SEC tourney losses to Florida as a starter in 2018 and to Mississippi State in 2019 as a reliever when he gave up the game-winning hit in the longest game (17 innings) in SEC tourney history.
But against Kentucky, the only mark against Hilliard was UK catcher Devin Burkes two-out, two-run homer in the second inning on a 3-2 count in a nine-pitch battle.
The Tigers responded with nine consecutive runs of a trio of three-run innings in the third, fourth and six innings. LSU pounded five Kentucky pitchers for 13 hits, led by Tigers’ left fielder Josh Pearson’s history-making night. The freshman from West Monroe slammed a two-run homer in the seventh inning to become the first LSU player ever to have five hits (he was 5 for 5 with three RBI) in an SEC tournament game.
The Tigers’ offensive performance was even more impressive because injured starters Jason Berry (wrist, finger) and second baseman Cade Doughty (shoulder) sat out.
Even without Berry and Doughty, who have combined for 27 homers and 98 RBI, LSU’s bats stayed hot. In the Tigers’ last five games – wins over Northwestern State and Kentucky sandwiching last weekend’s sweep at Vanderbilt – they’ve scored a combined 72 runs on 65 hits including 15 homers and 13 doubles.
Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione was thrown out of the game to start the fifth inning. In LSU’s three-run fourth-inning, Tigers' center fielder Dylan Crews scored when he slid around the tag of UK’s Burkes.
Mingione challenged the call of home plate umpire Derick Mollica but a replay review upheld Mollica’s ruling. After Mingione screamed from the dugout to Mollica that his call was F’n B.S., Mollica ejected Mingione when Mingione ran to coach third base as Kentucky came to bat in the fifth.
LSU built an 11-3 lead before Burkes hit his second homer, this one a three-run shot off Tigers’ reliever Devin Fontenot in the eighth inning.