No. 1 LSU scores 11th 10-run rule win of season in 16-6 SEC beatdown of UK
On a Thursday night when college baseball’s strikeout leader appeared somewhat mortal, the nation’s third best hitting team came to the rescue.
No. 1 ranked LSU pounded two grand slam homers and a three-run dinger in the first three consecutive innings for 13-run lead over No. 11 Kentucky in an eventual 16-6 10-run rule win in eight innings in the opener of a three-game SEC series in Alex Box Stadium.
LSU improved to 28-5 overall and 8-4 in the SEC West. Kentucky dropped to 27-6 and 9-4 in the SEC East. The teams meet in Saturday’s game two at 6:30.
The Tigers got a huge jump on winning their third SEC series opener of the season when shortstop Jordan Thompson and right fielder Brayden Jobert hammered grand slams in the first and second innings respectively. Designated hitter Cade Beloso added a three-run homer in the third for 14-1 lead.
Maybe the offensive outburst relaxed usually flawless LSU starting pitcher Paul Skenes a bit too much. The 14 runs his teammates provided him were more than they gave Skenes in his four previous SEC starts combined.
Though he improved his record to 6-1 and tied his season-high in strikeouts with 13, Skenes gave up season highs of six hits and five runs (four earned). His 111 pitches in seven innings were also a season high.
Yet, as he usually does, Skenes finished with a flourish. He struck out the side in the Kentucky seventh, the eighth time this season he finished his performance with a strikeout. He’s also struck out at least one batter in the 54 innings he has completed and has struck out multiple batters in 43 innings.
"They're a good team, they have a great record for a reason and they competed well against Paul," LSU head coach Jay Johnson said of Kentucky. "I thought he was fine. He's just set an unbeatable standard, in terms of executing pitches and lines and performances. The SEC is the best conference in the country, so it's surprising it's taken this long for somebody to score a few runs off him."
Four Kentucky relievers held LSU to four hits and five runs in the final five innings. But it wasn’t nearly enough after Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione’s starting pitcher imploded in less than two innings.
He went with Zach Hise, a redshirt sophomore transfer from Missouri who was getting his first start with the Wildcats after two runs in nine innings spread over seven relief appearances.
Mingione’s plan was for Hise to hopefully pitch a couple of flawless innings before he turned the game over to a string of UK relievers, the strength of a pitching staff ranked fourth in the SEC in earned run average.
Hise didn’t make it through two innings. When he trudged off the mound with two outs in the second inning after being replaced by reliever Jackson Nove, LSU was leading 11-1, Hise had a stat line that screamed self-destruction.
He hit four batters, walked two batters and gave up four hits including a two-RBI double by third baseman Tommy White, followed Thompson and Jobert grand slams and Beloso’s three-run shot.