LSU Baseball Report: Grambling, Texas A&M visit Baton Rouge this week

LSU Baseball Report – April 29, 2024

Overall Record: 28-17 SEC: 7-14

Last Week’s Results (3-1)

April 23 (Tue.) – NICHOLLS (W, 9-0)

April 26 (Fri.) – AUBURN (W, 5-0)

April 27 (Sat.) – AUBURN (W, 3-2)

April 28 (Sun.) – AUBURN (L, 5-7)

This Week’s Schedule

April 30 (Tue.) – GRAMBLING STATE, 6:30 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)

May 3 (Fri.) – TEXAS A&M, 7 p.m. CT (SEC Network)

May 4 (Sat.) – TEXAS A&M, 6:30 p.m. CT (ESPNU)

May 5 (Sun.) – TEXAS A&M, 1 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)

Tigers Update

· LSU won three of four games last week, including a victory over Nicholls and a SEC series win versus Auburn … the Tigers have won four of their past six SEC games and six of their past eight games overall.

· Sophomore left-hander Gage Jump fired seven scoreless innings on Friday night, leading LSU to a 5-0 win over Auburn … Jump recorded seven shutout innings, limiting Auburn to just two singles with no walks and six strikeouts … he threw 100 pitches in the outing, 67 for strikes … Jump allowed just one Auburn baserunner to reach second base, and he retired eight hitters in a row to complete his outing … in his last two starts versus Missouri and Auburn, he has allowed only one run on five hits in 14.0 innings with one walk and 20 strikeouts.

· Freshman outfielder Ashton Larson was LSU’s leading hitting in its series victory versus Auburn, batting .462 (6-for-13) with one double, three RBI, and one stolen base … his RBI single in the seventh inning on Friday night highlighted a three-run rally in LSU’s 5-0 victory … for the entire week, Larson batted .375 (6-for-16), helping to lead LSU to three wins in four games … Larson is hitting a team-high .412 (21-for-51) in SEC games this season with six doubles, three homers, nine RBI and 10 runs scored.

· The LSU pitching staff has posted a 2.74 ERA in the Tigers’ last eight games, allowing just 21 earned runs while recording 22 walks and 81 strikeouts in 69 innings … opponents are batting just .190 against LSU during that eight-game span.

· Senior right-hander Christian Little is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in his last four relief appearances … Little has worked 7.0 scoreless innings in those four appearances, allowing just two hits with one walk and nine strikeouts.

· Junior shortstop Michael Braswell III is hitting .407 (11-for-27) in the Tigers’ last eight games with three doubles, four RBI and five runs … sophomore first baseman Jared Jones has four doubles, five homers and six RBI in LSU’s last eight games; junior third baseman Tommy White has five homes and 10 RBI in that eight-game period … LSU has out-homered its opponents, 21-3, in the Tigers’ last eight games.

· Sophomore left-hander Griffin Herring has excelled in his SEC outings, posting a 2-0 mark with a 1.44 ERA and two saves in seven league appearances … Herring has recorded 25.0 innings in SEC games, allowing just four earned runs with five walks and 36 strikeouts.

· LSU recorded back-to-back shutouts vs. Nicholls (9-0) on Tuesday and vs. Auburn (5-0) on Friday, marking the Tigers’ first back-to-back shutouts since March 14-17, 2023, when LSU blanked New Orleans (16-0) and Texas A&M (9-0) in consecutive games.

· Junior leftfielder Josh Pearson’s ninth-inning single to defeat Auburn on Saturday night marked LSU’s first walk-off win since June 22, 2023, when third baseman Tommy White blasted a two-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift the Tigers to a College World Series semifinal win over Wake Forest.

PREVIEW: Grambling State Tigers (18-22) at LSU Tigers (28-17)

DATE/TIME
Tuesday, April 30 @ 6:30 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)
STADIUM
Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field (10,326)
RADIO
· LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates
· Live audio at www.LSUsports.net/live; Live stats at www.LSUstats.com
TV/ONLINE
The game will be streamed on SEC Network +

LSU SERIES RECORD VS. GRAMBLING STATE
LSU leads the all-time series with Grambling, 12-0, with all 12 games having been played in Baton Rouge, beginning with the first meeting between the schools in 2009 … LSU defeated GSU, 17-5 (seven innings), on March 28, 2023, in the most recent meeting between the teams.

QUOTING COACH JAY JOHNSON
“Tuesday is must-win game, there’s no question about that. We’ll get ready to roll and prepare for a very good Grambling team, and then we have the No. 1 team in the country (Texas A&M) coming in this weekend. I hope our fans will come out and support us all week. Our guys are still invested in each other and invested in winning baseball games.”

ABOUT THE LSU TIGERS
LSU won three of four games last week, including a victory over Nicholls and a SEC series win versus Auburn … the Tigers have won four of their past six SEC games and six of their past eight games overall.

Sophomore left-hander Gage Jump fired seven scoreless innings on Friday night, leading LSU to a 5-0 win over Auburn … Jump recorded seven shutout innings, limiting Auburn to just two singles with no walks and six strikeouts … he threw 100 pitches in the outing, 67 for strikes … Jump allowed just one Auburn baserunner to reach second base, and he retired eight hitters in a row to complete his outing … in his last two starts versus Missouri and Auburn, he has allowed only one run on five hits in 14.0 innings with one walk and 20 strikeouts.

Freshman outfielder Ashton Larson was LSU’s leading hitting in its series victory versus Auburn, batting .462 (6-for-13) with one double, three RBI, and one stolen base … his RBI single in the seventh inning on Friday night highlighted a three-run rally in LSU’s 5-0 victory … for the entire week, Larson batted .375 (6-for-16), helping to lead LSU to three wins in four games … Larson is hitting a team-high .412 (21-for-51) in SEC games this season with six doubles, three homers, nine RBI and 10 runs scored.

The LSU pitching staff has posted a 2.74 ERA in the Tigers’ last eight games, allowing just 21 earned runs while recording 22 walks and 81 strikeouts in 69 innings … opponents are batting just .190 against LSU during that eight-game span.

Senior right-hander Christian Little is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in his last four relief appearances … Little has worked 7.0 scoreless innings in those four appearances, allowing just two hits with one walk and nine strikeouts.

Junior shortstop Michael Braswell III is hitting .407 (11-for-27) in the Tigers’ last eight games with three doubles, four RBI and five runs … sophomore first baseman Jared Jones has four doubles, five homers and six RBI in LSU’s last eight games; junior third baseman Tommy White has five homes and 10 RBI in that eight-game period … LSU has out-homered its opponents, 21-3, in the Tigers’ last eight games.

Sophomore left-hander Griffin Herring has excelled in his SEC outings, posting a 2-0 mark with a 1.44 ERA and two saves in seven league appearances … Herring has recorded 25.0 innings in SEC games, allowing just four earned runs with five walks and 36 strikeouts.

LSU recorded back-to-back shutouts vs. Nicholls (9-0) on Tuesday and vs. Auburn (5-0) on Friday, marking the Tigers’ first back-to-back shutouts since March 14-17, 2023, when LSU blanked New Orleans (16-0) and Texas A&M (9-0) in consecutive games.

Junior leftfielder Josh Pearson’s ninth-inning single to defeat Auburn on Saturday night marked LSU’s first walk-off win since June 22, 2023, when third baseman Tommy White blasted a two-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift the Tigers to a College World Series semifinal win over Wake Forest.

ABOUT THE GRAMBLING STATE TIGERS
Grambling has a 15-6 mark in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and the Tigers are just one-half game behind Texas Southern (15-5) for first place in the SWAC West Division.
Grambling is hitting .313 as a team with 70 doubles, 14 triples, 38 homers and 67 steals in 80 attempts … the GSU pitching staff has a 8.08 cumulative ERA with 253 strikeouts in 318.2 innings.
Infielder Kyle Walker is batting .370 for Grambling with seven doubles, one triple, eight homers, 26 RBI and 55 runs … outfielder Tiger Borom leads the club in doubles with 14, and he shares the team lead in RBI (39) with infielder Cameron Bufford.