Jared Jones of LSU (22) had three RBI in the Tigers’ 18-10 win against Stony Brook on Sunday. (Photo Coutesy of LSU)
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana State University Tigers beat the Stony Brook University Seawolves 18-10 at Alex Box Stadium in front of 10,682 fans in attendance on Sunday, avenging their 5-2 loss on Friday night.
The Tigers are currently ranked No. 3 in the country in the D1baseball.com rankings and improved their record to 7-1 for the 2024 season.
Stony Brook University, which plays in the Coastal Athletic Association, dropped tto 3-5 for the 2024 regular season.
In the bottom of the first inning, LSU’s Paxton Kling led off the game with a infield single off Stony Brook pitcher Colton Brook’s left leg to start the game.
Brook attempted a pickoff throw to first baseman Brett Paulsen, and the ball skipped down the right field line, allowing Kling to go to third base during third baseman Tommy White’s at-bat. White eventually drove Kling home with a bloop single into right field for LSU’s first run of the game.
With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, LSU’s Michael Braswell III lofted a three-run triple off the right-center field wall, scoring White, Hayden Travinski, and Jared Jones to make it 4-0.
“It felt really good in the first inning. I’ve been in a lot of bases-loaded situations in the past, days I haven’t come through, and being able to come through for the team in the first inning really made me feel good. The second inning, I was confident in our offense that we were putting it on their pitching staff and executing our plan doing it pitch-by-pitch to cap off those first 10 runs,” Braswell said during the postgame press conference.
The next batter, right fielder Ethan Frey singled to left field and Jones came in to score to extend the lead to 5-0.
Stony Brook head coach Matt Senk came out of the dugout to take out Brook and in favor of Ty Stout. Brook threw .2 innings and allowed four hits, five earned runs, and three walks with 37 pitches.
The LSU offense did not stop in the bottom of the second inning, however, and scored all of their five runs with two outs.
Jones started off the offensive explosion the bottom of the second with a single to left field, scoring Steven Milam to make it 6-0.
The LSU offense rolled the Stony Brook University pitching staff, and Milam lead LSU with three hits on Sunday, along with two RBI and one walk in four at-bats. White had four RBI in four at-bats scoring two runs, recording two hits, and one walk. Jones knocked his fourth home run of the year in the bottom of the third inning to make it 12-2 and scored three runs in five at-bats to go along with his two hits, three RBI, and one walk.
Stony Brook University center fielder Cam Santerre had a two-run home run in the top of the third inning and recorded one hit, scoring one run, and two RBI in two at-bats during Sunday’s loss.
Stony Brook University second baseman Johnny Pilla came off the bench in the top of the fifth inning and cranked a three-run home run to right field and ended the day with three at-bats scoring one run, recording one hit, and three RBI.
LSU head coach Jay Johnson’s pitching staff threw nine innings allowing eight hits, 10 earned runs, five walks, and 11 strikeouts while facing 42 batters in Sunday’s win.
LSU southpaw starting pitcher Javen Coleman improved to 2-0 on Sunday, facing 16 batters and throwing four innings while allowing just two hits, two earned runs, one walk, and striking out six with 77 pitches.
“It’s a luxury for us to have a starting pitcher available on day four of a weekend that we haven’t had to use yet. He’s only going to get better as the season moves along towards conference play,” Johnson said follwing his 101st win as LSU head coach. He earned his 100th win on Saturday with a 5-2 win over Northern Illinois at Alex Box Stadium.
The Stony Brook University Seawolves pitching staff gave up 17 hits through eight innings and allowed 18 earned runs, nine walks, and four strikeouts during Sunday’s loss.
LSU will travel to Houston on Wednesday to play Rice University (3-4) of the American Athletic Conference at 8:00 p.m. EST at Reckling Park.
Stony Brook University will travel to Blacksburg, Va., to take on Virginia Tech (5-2) on March 1 at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park at 4:00 p.m. EST.
Notebook: LSU is ranked No. 3 in the D1baseball.com rankings that will be released on Feb. 26.