No. 1 LSU takes fourth 10-run rule win in last five games

College baseball’s strikeout leader did his thing again Friday night, supported by the timely booming bats of his teammates.

Tigers’ starter Paul Skenes struck out 11 in six innings and freshman first baseman Jared Jones cracked a pair of two-run homers in No. 1 LSU’s 11-1 victory over Samford called after 6½ innings because of the 10-run rule in Alex Box Stadium.

It was the eighth straight win for LSU (13-1) and the Tigers’ fourth 10-run rule victory in its last five games.

Skenes (4-0), who now has 48 strikeouts in 24 innings, gave up just two hits. Both came in the third inning when Samford tied the game 1-1 when second baseman Garrett Staton led off with a single and eventually scored on a Skenes’ wild pitch.

“As long as we support Paul on defense, he’s going to hold it together,” LSU head coach Jay Johnson said. “He throws three pitches for strikes, a fastball over 100 mph, and he has great poise, competitiveness and character."

The Tigers re-gained the lead on Jones two-out, two run homer in the fifth. Jones added a two-out two-run homer to culminate LSU’s six-run sixth inning that featured five hits including left fielder Tre Morgan’s RBI single and designated hitter Tommy White’s two-RBI double.

"I’m very proud of Jared,” Johnson said. “He worked hard this week, made a small tweak in his swing, and focused on slowing the game down mentally."

LSU had nine hits off three Samford pitchers. Jones was 3 for 4 with four RBI, White 1 for 3 with 2 RBI, center fielder Dylan Crews 2 for 4 and right fielder Paxton Kling 2 of 2.

Crews, White, Jones and Kling scored two runs each.

The Tigers and the Bulldogs (6-7) play the second of a three-game series Saturday at 6:30 p.m. LSU will start junior righthander Ty Floyd (2-0, 1.54 ERA, 11.2 innings,15 strikeouts, 2 walks) vs. Samford junior righty Brody Westbrooks (0-0, 0.90 ERA, 10 innings, 11 strikeouts, 7 walks).