No. 1 LSU goes Crewsin' for a bruisin', wins its SEC series at Ole Miss
Two Dylan Crews home runs in the first two innings and a superb pitching performance by Ty Floyd was all LSU needed Saturday afternoon to win its fifth SEC series of the season.
Center fielder Crews hammered a two-run homer in the first followed by a second-inning grand slam and Floyd gave the Tigers their longest appearance of the year by a starter in an 8-4 win at Ole Miss.
LSU (31-7 overall, 11-5 in the SEC West) is still seekng its first league series sweep. It gets that chance in Sunday’s game three set for 1:30 p.m.
After Crews delivered his early thunderbolts, LSU designated hitter Cade Beloso added a solo homer leading off the fifth inning for a 7-0 lead.
“Dylan is a special player, and he never lets the situation get too big,” LSU head coach Jay Johnson said. “He executes his plan, and he’s the best player on the planet. He’s just super committed to what he knows he needs to do. He’s a special talent, but the talent comes out like that because he’s so consistent in how he approaches the game.”
It was more than enough for Floyd, who improved to 6-0 with his finest effort of the season. In his 8.1 innings, he struck out eight, walked one and allowed five hits and three runs which came on Ole Miss left fielder Kemp Alderman’s three-run homer in the sixth.
“Ty just was so sharp and that allowed him to extend, just a phenomenal effort,” Johnson said. “He always prepares well, but the last couple weeks we really made some strides and the pitch execution was as good as you could do it today.”
Ole Miss starter Hunter Elliott self-destructed early. He was pulled after giving up the Crews two-run blast in the first inning and then he walked the bases full after facing the first three batters in the LSU second.
Elliott allowed 7 of the 10 LSU batters he faced to reach base, giving up two hits and walking five.
Reliever Mason Nichols was left to clean up Elliott’s mess. After Nichols struck out Tigers’ first baseman Tre’ Morgan, Crews hammered his first career grand slam homer for a 6-0 cushion.
The only negative for the day was LSU left 12 men on base as the defending national championship Rebels (21-18, 3-14 SEC West) avoided a run-rule loss.