BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU right-hander Thatcher Hurd fired five scoreless innings and third baseman Tommy White launched a grand slam Sunday to lead the Tigers to a series sweep against Samford with a 13-1 victory inside Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
With the win, LSU improved to 15-1 on the season with its 10th straight victory, while the Bulldogs dropped to 6-9 on the year.
LSU’s 10-game win streak is its longest since the 2017 season, when the Tigers won 17 straight games from May 11 through June 17.
Before traveling to Bryan-College Station to face Texas A&M for the beginning of SEC play, LSU hosts UNO Tuesday in an in-state midweek matchup. The contest is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. CT first pitch and can be viewed on SEC Network+. The game can also be heard on the LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates.
“It was a tough start, playing early after a night game, but I thought our guys responded well,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “Their pitcher did a good job the first time through our order, but it’s really difficult with our hitters to get through a second and third time.
Hurd (2-0) picked up his second win of the season after tossing 5.0 innings and allowing no hits while punching out seven Bulldogs. Right-hander Gavin Guidry and left-hander Riley Cooper came on in relief for Hurd, tossing the final two innings while allowing one run on no hits, collectively.
“Thatcher was outstanding again,” Johnson said. “He’s got great stuff, he has great poise. The highlight of the day was when he got in a little trouble in the fourth inning, but he re-composed himself and ended the inning with a strikeout. He has elite stuff, and when he’s an elite place mentally, he’s as good as they come.”
Samford starter Will Lynch (0-2) was charged with the loss, tossing 4.0 innings and allowing four runs on three hits.
LSU opened the scoring in the third after two scoreless innings from both squads. Centerfielder Dylan Crews unloaded his fifth home run of the season over the right-centerfield wall and extended his hitting streak to 14 games. The length of his current hitting streak marks the longest of his collegiate career. His previous best was 13 straight games with a hit during his freshman campaign.
Crews broke open the scoring after right-fielder Paxton Kling hit a single through the left side. LSU led Samford 2-0 after three innings.
Kling posted an impressive 3-for-5 line, knocking in three runs and scoring three times.
The Tigers increased the lead in the fifth, which started with a hit-by-pitch from second baseman Gavin Dugas, a single from Kling, and another HBP from first baseman Tre’ Morgan. Crews headed to the plate with the bases loaded and drew a walk after a passed ball made the score 3-0.
White’s grounder to shortstop allowed Kling to score from third. The margin after five innings was 4-0.
The Bulldogs scratched one across in the top of the sixth to close the gap to 4-1.
White blasted the game wide open in the seventh when he smashed a ball over the wall in right-center field with the bases loaded. The last time a Tiger launched a grand slam was on May 21, 2022, when Brayden Jobert accomplished the feat at Vanderbilt.
LSU added five runs to close out the nine-run seventh, including Kling’s walk-off three-run dinger to account for the final margin. The run-rule win is the Tigers’ third straight and seventh overall this season.
{Courtesy: LSU Athletics}
