LSU Defeats Louisiana Tech, 2-0

The LSU Tigers snapped their two-game losing streak on Tuesday evening when they defeated the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in Baton Rouge, 2-0.

Louisiana Tech pitcher David Leal gave LSU the absolute blues on offense, pitching three perfect innings and not allowing a run until the sixth inning.

Austin Bain began the second inning by flying out to second base. Beau Jordan then struck out swinging. Nick Coomes brought more of the same, also striking out swinging.

Zach Watson singled into left field and stole second, bringing an abrupt end to Leal’s perfect game in the fourth. Daniel Cabrera struck out looking to follow. A costly mistake by Zach Watson who ran on contact brought the fourth inning to a scoreless conclusion.

LSU saw the game’s only pair of runs in the sixth inning, when Watson singled to left field scoring Slaughter. Duplantis singled to center field, scoring Watson and making it 2-0.

Watson was LSU’s leader on offense, going 2 for 4, including an RBI, a run and 2 stolen bases. Watson’s batting average with runners in scoring position rose to to .400 on the season by way of his single in the sixth inning.

As for pitching, RHP AJ Labas opened the first inning with a bang, throwing a strike that would set the tone for the remainder of the game. Labas allowed Louisiana Tech just 2 hits and recorded no walks or strikeouts over the course of 6 innings. He racked up a total of 44 strikes on 63 pitches in his usual fashion.

LSU shocked the crowd when Labas was relieved by Caleb Gilbert in the seventh inning - his first appearance since his atrocious performance against Texas A&M. In College Station, he gave up 5 runs on 6 hits in 0.2 innings before being pulled.

Tuesday, the junior allowed no hits and struck out one batter in a single inning.

According to LSU head coach Paul Mainieri, the Tigers have everything planned out to get Gilbert back on his game.

“That’s been the plan since this weekend,” he said. “(Alan Dunn) and me talked about it, trying to get him back into a role that last year he was very successful in. We wanted to get him into the game tonight to try to flush what happened on Friday out of his mind. But he’s going to continue to pitch out of the bullpen for us.”

He was replaced by sophomore LHP Nick Bush in the eight inning, who walked two batters. In the ninth, Bain made the switch from second baseman to pitcher, marking his third save of the season.

LSU will get back to the action Friday when it takes on Tennessee in The Box at 7:00 p.m. CT.