Observations from LSU's 4-0 win over Xavier on Friday night

On a day full of grey clouds and rain showers, the LSU Tigers played a late one on Friday night, facing off against Xavier to start a three game weekend series, the Tigers made an early statement.

With a 10-strikeout starting performance by Luke Holman and early offensive threats, the LSU Tigers defeated Xavier 4-0.

Here are my observations from the game.

Another dominant performance from starting pitcher Luke Holman. Coming into Friday night the right hander had not given up a run so far this season. He continued to keep that streak alive after tossing six scoreless innings. He punched out 10 batters and didn’t allow a single hit. That’s right, not a single batter reached base against Holman via a hit. Xavier stood no chance facing Holman as he peppered the zone with strikes all night.

Luke Holman ran into a small amount of trouble as he walked 2 batters as well as hitting 2 batters throughout the night. In the top of the 4th inning, he walked the leadoff hitter and plunked the next batter. However, that didn’t faze him in the slightest. With the first two batters on base, Holman struck out the next three hitters in order. After the 4th, nothing stood in his way.

A great performance from the righty as he continues to show why he is a true Friday night guy. Weeks away from SEC play, Holman continues to soar in the right direction at a great time.

The offense came out on fire right out of the gates. In the bottom of the first inning the Tigers plated two runs across the board. Catcher Brady Neal banged an RBI double off the left field wall that scored Steven Milam. Following that, Hayden Travinski towered a SAC Fly to center field bringing in Tommy White. LSU gave starting pitcher Luke Holman a good cushion early.

The very next inning in the bottom of the second, the offense duplicated the first inning by doubling the score to make it 4-0. Michael Braswell III hit an RBI triple to center field scoring Mac Bingham. Moments later, Steven Milam smashed a double past the outfielders to score Braswell III. A promising start as LSU jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after 2 frames.

The offense cooled a bit after the second inning from LSU after getting an early lead.

After a brilliant performance from Luke Holman, head coach Jay Johnson made a move to the bullpen and brought in relief pitcher, Christian Little. Up to this point Little has had his struggles on the mound. He showed some good signs through his 1.2 innings pitched. Little tossed 2 strikeouts. However, Xavier did find some barrels off him as they tallied three hits. Christian Little gave up one walk and no runs. To end the 7th inning, he managed to force a ground ball and the Tigers turned a 4-6-3 double play.

To finish the ball game, left hander Griffin Herring entered the game and was unhittable. He pitched 1.1 innings and gave up no hits. Xavier had nothing going for them while facing Herring and he gathered 3 strikeouts in his four outs that he recorded. Together Little and Herring punched out five batters and only allowed 1 walk. The bullpen has been solid so far this season and tonight was another strong performance.

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