Tigers fall to top-ranked Texas in Shriners Classic

In front of a packed house at Minute Maid Park in Houston, a four-run second inning was too much to overcome as LSU fell to top-ranked Texas 6-1 Saturday night.

The Tigers (9-2) will finish out the weekend Sunday night at 7 p.m. when they take on Baylor in the finale of the 2022 Shriners Classic. Top-ranked Texas remains unbeaten at 11-0.

Texas got all the runs they would need in the second inning all with two outs. Catcher Silas Ardoin led off the inning with a double, but LSU starter Ty Floyd was able to retire the two Longhorn hitters. After intentionally walking shortstop Trey Faltine, a swinging bunt by Dylan Campbell was mishandled by Floyd and his throwing error allowed Ardoin to score. Douglas Hodo followed one batter later with a three-run home run to make it a 4-0 contest.

Up 5-0 in the eighth, designated hitter Murphy Stehly’s solo home run off of Trent Veitmeier to extend the lead to 6-0 for the Longhorns.

LSU struggled to get anything going offensively against Texas right-hander Tristan Stevens. The Tigers didn’t pick up its hit until the third inning on a one-out single by Giovanni DiGiacomo.

Finally breaking through in the eighth against reliever Andre Duplantier, LSU loaded the bases with no outs after Dylan Crews reached on an error, Cade Doughty walked, Jacob Berry singled and Crews scored on a sacrifice fly by Jordan Thompson to make it 6-1. The Tigers would again load the bases but strikeouts by Tyler McManus and pinch-hitter Hayden Travinski ended the LSU threat.

On the night, the Tigers left 12 runners on base.

Stevens picked up the win on the mound for the Longhorns, throwing seven shutout innings, allowing only five hits and striking out seven.

Floyd (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing four earned runs on five hits. In four-plus innings of work he struck out four and walked four. Freshman right-hander Samuel Dutton allowed a single run in 2.2 innings of relief, striking out a pair.

NOTES: The announced attendance for the game Saturday night was 24,787.