Josh Pearson’s career day powers LSU to weekend sweep

The freshman outfielder is taking advantage of his opportunity.

Making his third consecutive start, LSU freshman Josh Pearson launched a pair of home runs and drove in five runs in the Tigers 13-3 victory over Mississippi State Sunday afternoon in Starkville.

Picking up its first SEC sweep of the 2022 season, LSU improves to 23-9 on the season and 7-5 in league play. Mississippi State drops to 18-15 and 4-8 in SEC action.

Trailing 1-0 in the fifth, the LSU bats exploded for five runs on four hits. Catcher Tyler McManus led off with a triple and left-fielder Josh Stevenson walked. With one out, Dylan Crews drove in McManus with an infield single and Stevenson scored on a single by Jacob Berry.

With two outs, Pearson deposited a Cade Smith pitch over the right field wall for a three-run homer. He and Doughty would both add back-to-back solo homers in the seventh inning.

After LSU gave up two runs in the seventh and saw its lead trimmed to 9-3, the Tigers sent seven batters to the plate in the eighth, pushing across four runs courtesy an RBI double by Crews, a two-run double by Doughty and an RBI single by Pearson to push its lead to double-digits at 13-3.

On the mound, the freshman duo of Samuel Dutton and Grant Taylor were again impressive, throwing seven innings of two-run baseball, scattering a combined nine hits, striking out seven and not walking a batter.

The Tigers return to action on Tuesday night back at Alex Box Stadium against Lamar at 6:30 p.m. before traveling to Fayetteville to take on Arkansas beginning on Thursday.