Morgan fattens his batting average in No. 1 LSU's Fat Tuesday rout
After not getting in on LSU’s offensive party in the Tigers’ season opening series sweep of Western Michigan over the weekend, junior baseman Tre’ Morgan celebrated Mardi Gras by staging a personal hits parade party.
Morgan, who went 0 for 8 vs. WMU, hit for the cycle with four hits and eight RBI in LSU’s 18-4 seven-inning run rule win over Southern Tuesday afternoon in sunny Alex Box Stadium.
Morgan went 4-for-5 from the plate with a single in the second, a two-RBI double in the third, a three-RBI triple in the fifth and a three-RBI homer in the sixth.
The last LSU player to hit for the cycle was Mikie Mahtook vs. Alcorn State at home on April 6, 2010.
“Tre’ hit into a lot of tough luck over the weekend, but the numbers didn’t reflect the quality of his plate appearances,” said LSU head coach Jay Johnson, whose No. 1 ranked team is now 4-0. “The numbers from the weekend didn’t tell the whole story, but the numbers certainly did tell the story today.”
After a slow start, LSU pounded 13 hits off four Southern pitchers including seven extra-base hits. Morgan, junior right fielder Brayden Jobert and freshman designated hitter Jared Jones all hit homers.
Four LSU pitchers allowed eight Southern hits, but the crosstown rival Jaguars had just two hits and no runs off LSU’s three relievers after Southern staked a 4-0 lead through the first 2½ innings.
The Jags touched LSU starter Thatcher Hurd (a UCLA transfer) for six hits and four runs in two innings. He got pulled with no outs in the third when he gave up four straight singles and was replaced Vanderbilt junior transfer Christian Little, who previously threw two scoreless innings in the Tigers’ season-opening 10-0 win over Western Michigan last Friday.
Southern left fielder JJ Rollon rolled a two-RBI single off Little in top of the third for two runs and a four-run lead but the runs were charged to Hurd because he was responsible for the runners on base.
LSU erased the Jags’ lead with a five-run, three-hit bottom of the third.
After freshman left field Josh Pearson walked to open the LSU at-bat and center fielder Dylan Crews was hit by pitch, grad second baseman Gavin Dugas and Morgan produced a 1-run RBI single and 2-run RBI double respectively to cut Southern’s lead to 4-3.
That margin that immediately disappeared when Jones rocketed a two-run 467-foot homer high off the left field scoreboard for a 5-4 LSU lead.
The Tigers quickly added three runs for an 8-4 cushion in the fourth on Jobert’s 3-run homer.
LSU tacked on five runs each in the fifth and sixth innings to force the game to be called early because of the 10-run rule.
Little (1-0) got the pitching win for the Tigers, allowing one hit and no runs with six strikeouts (against 12 batters) and a walk in 3.2 innings.
“Christian entered the game and provided that ‘magic moment’ we needed to win,” Johnson said. “He’s a gamer, a guy who loves to compete, and he can cause a lot of problems for hitters with his ability to throw four pitches for strikes.”
LSU now hits the road to play in the Round Rock (Texas) Classic in an Austin suburb this weekend vs. Kansas State on Friday at 2 p.m., vs. Iowa on Saturday at 12 noon and Sam Houston on Sunday at 4 p.m. The Tigers then have a day off before traveling crosstown to play at Texas on Tuesday.