FRISCO, Texas — It was a rough start for LSU baseball on Saturday evening at Rider’s Field.
The Tigers trailed 5-0. Their starting pitcher had been touched for six hits through three innings and was having trouble generating whiffs. The offense was having issues stringing together hits. The bullpen, with LSU playing its fourth game in six days, already came into the game light on top arms.
But LSU never used any of those reasons as an excuse to quit.
LSU took down Nebraska 11-6 at the Frisco College Baseball Classic, at one point going on a 10-0 run to improve to 3-0 on its Texas road trip.
Six different Tigers had multiple hits. They finished the evening with 17 hits, including seven doubles.
Senior Josh Pearson, following his heroics at the end of Friday’s game, led the way with three doubles and a single. Sophomore Steven Milam went 3-for-6 with a double and two RBIs. Sophomore Jake Brown and junior Jared Jones drove in multiple runs.
The break through inning for LSU came in the seventh. Trailing by a run, the Tigers scored six runs to open up a 10-5 advantage.
Milam started the party with a run-scoring single that drove in Utah Valley transfer Daniel Dickinson. Brown then hit a sacrifice fly out that handed LSU its first lead.
Run-scoring singles from Auburn transfer Chris Stanfield and Curiel kept LSU’s offensive momentum rolling before Jones ripped a single into left field that drove in Curiel and Stanfield.
LSU’s offense originally found its stride in the fourth inning, scoring three runs to cut the Nebraska lead to two.
Milam drove in the first run on a double, the Tigers’ second consecutive two-base hit after senior Josh Pearson led off the inning with his second double of the evening.
Milam later scored from third base on a groundout from freshman Cade Arrambide. The third run came across after Stanfield singled to drive in junior college transfer Tanner Reaves.
LSU cut the deficit to one and nearly tied the game in the next inning. With two runners in scoring position and two outs, sophomore Jake Brown hit a single into center field. The first runner scored easily but Milam got thrown out at the plate.
It was a rocky first few innings for LSU right-handed starter Anthony Eyanson. The Cornhuskers had a beat on the UC San Diego transfer from the start, as he surrendered three singles and a double to the first six batters he faced.
But he only allowed a three singles after the first, at one point striking out six of seven batters through the fourth and fifth innings. He gave up a run in the second and third, but after that threw three shutout innings while surrendering just one hit.
He finished the night allowing seven hits and five runs while striking out seven in six innings.
His defense also played a big part in keeping LSU within striking distance. Most notably, in the sixth inning with nobody on and nobody out, Dickinson fielded a ground ball up the middle.
But instead of making the throw to first, he flipped the ball to Milam with his glove and the shortstop caught it with his bare hand and made a perfect throw to first base for the out.
Despite throwing 48 pitches Wednesday, Wofford transfer and right-hander Zac Cowan came in for Eyanson in the seventh and allowed one run in two innings.
Freshman right-hander William Schmidt closed out the victory in the ninth, five days following his 60-pitch start on Monday.
LSU plays the final game of its Texas roadtrip on Sunday against Sam Houston State. First pitch from the Frisco College Baseball Classic is slated for 4 p.m. and the game can be streamed on D1Baseball.com.
